UCSB   LIBRARY 


The  Kingdom   in  India 


WORKS  BY 

JACOB  CHAMBERLAIN,  M.D. 


The  Kingdom  in  India  $ 

12mo,  cloth,  $1.60  net. 

The  author  has  lived  in  India  close  on  to  fifty 
years  and  his  previous  works  :  "  In  the  Tiger 
Jungle"  and  "The  Cobra's  Den"  have  estab- 
lished him  in  the  hearts  of  people  interested  in 
missionary  work.  The  "Independent"  recently 
remarked  :  "  If  this  is  the  kind  of  missionary 
who  mans  the  foreign  stations  they  will  never 
fail  for  lack  of  enterprise." 

The  Cobra's  Den, 

and  other  stories  of  Missionary  Work 
among  the  Telugus  of  India.  12mo, 
cloth,  -  1.00 

"  Vivid  and  moving  as  they  are,  the  serious 
reader  will  doubtless  give  special  heed  to  the 
insight  which  these  stories  give  into  missionary 
life  in  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  fruitful  of 
foreign  fields."  —  N.  Y.  Examiner. 

In  the  Tiger  Jungle, 

and  other  stories  of  Missionary  Work 
among  the  Telugus.  Illustrated.  2d 
edition,  12mo,  cloth,  -  -  1.00 

"A  vivid  and  serious  portrayal  of  the  mission 
work,  and  as  such  leaves  a  deep  impression  on 
the  reader.  —  The  Independent. 

"  All  these  adventures  are  interesting;  some  are 
very  exciting  and  thrilling,  and  the  whole  volume 
presents  a  series  of  realistic  pictures  of  life  in 
India  which  cannot  fail  to  interest  and  instruct 
all  who  read  it."  —  The  Lutheran  Observer. 


(/ 


The    Kingdom   in    India 

Its  Progress  and  Its  Promise 


By 
JACOB    CHAMBERLAIN 

Author   of  "  In  the   Tiger  Jungle,"  "  The 
Cobra's  Den"  etc.,  etc. 


With  a  Biographical  Sketch 

By 
HENRY   NITCHIE  COBB 


NEW  YORK  CHICAGO  TORONTO 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

LONDON  AND  EDINBURGH 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  80  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto:  35  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


To  the  'consecrated   army,  large  and 
increasing,  of 

STUDENT  VOLUNTEERS 

The  hope  of  the  Church  for  the 
speedy  establishing  in  all  the  'world 
of  "the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ" 


^*«*«**/^/W^^ 


Contents 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH    BY  THE    REV.    HENRY 
NITCHIE  COBB,  D.  D xi 

PREFACE  ....  I 

I.  THE    TWELVE   BRAHMAN  PILGRIMS  :  A  HINDU 

STORY  WITH  A  POINT         ....          3 

II.  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  ORIENT  ;  THEIR  BEAU- 

TIES, AND  THEIR  FATAL  DEFECTS         .         .        13 

III.  THE  BOOK  THAT  SHALL  SUPPLANT  THE  VEDAS  ; 

THE  BIBLE  TESTED  IN  INDIA        .         .         •       37 

IV.  THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  WORLD,  WHAT  IT  is,  AND 

How  IT  is  PENETRATING  INDIA    ...       79 

V.  PRESENTING    CHRIST   TO    THE    HINDUS  ;     THE 

BRAHMAN  HIGH  PRIEST      ....      101 

VI.  MEDICAL  MISSIONS  A  HANDMAID  TO  EVANGELIZA- 

TION :  THEIR  SPHERE  AND  THEIR  WORKING  .     119 

VII.  Do    MEDICAL    MISSIONS    REALLY    PAY?     THE 

MISSIONARY  DOCTOR'S  RETURN  WELCOME    .      135 

VIII.  WOMAN'S  WORK  AN  ESSENTIAL  FACTOR  IN  INDIA  .      1 43 

IX.  HIGH  CASTE  HINDU  GIRLS'  SCHOOLS,  AND  THEIR 

FRUITAGE  :   VISHNU  SIROMANI     .          .          .164 

X.  NATIVE  LEADERS  AND  FORCES  APPEARING  :     THE 

UNBAPTIZED  VOLUNTEER  MISSIONARY  .          .179 

XI.  OBSTACLES  AND   HINDRANCES:     A   HINDU   FA- 

THER'S DIFFICULTY    .          .         .         .         .191 
vii 


Vlll 

Contents 

XII. 

IT  COSTS  IN  INDIA  TO  BECOME  A  CHRISTIAN  : 

HANUMANTA  RAU     ..... 

198 

XIII. 

IT  COSTS  IN  INDIA  TO  BECOME  A  CHRISTIAN  : 

BIMA  Row     ...... 

225 

XIV. 

ARE    MISSIONS    IN    INDIA    A     DISMAL    FAIL- 

URE :  INCIDENTS  AT  ONGOLE 

240 

XV. 

INDIA  HERSELF  AT  WORK  :     THE  NATIONAL 

MISSIONARY  SOCIETY  OF  INDIA 

245 

XVI. 

LOCKING   ARMS   FOR   THE    CONFLICT  :     THE 

UNIFICATION  OF  NATIVE  CHURCHES  . 

255 

XVII. 

THE    PRESENT   OUTLOOK   IN   INDIA  :     NON- 

MISSIONARY  TESTIMONY  .... 

275 

XVIII. 

THE  ACTUAL  PROGRESS  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN  : 

NON-CHRISTIAN  HINDU  TESTIMONY 

287 

INDEX      ....... 

299 

Illustrations 

Facing  page 

REV.  DR.  JACOB  CHAMBERLAIN  .....  Title 
VETERANS  OF  THE  ARCOT  MISSION,  INDIA  xi 

A  TEMPLE  GOPURAM  OR  GATEWAY     .          .          .  14 

TELUGU  BIBLE  TRANSLATORS  .  .  .  .  -37 
LAYING  THE  CORNER  STONES  OF  COLLEGE  BUILDINGS  .  80 
VILLAGE  SCHOOL  FOR  BOYS  AND  GIRLS  .  .  .  102 
A  MISSION  HOSPITAL  FOR  WOMEN  .  .  .  .136 
MISSIONARY  LADY  DOCTORS  .  .  .  .  .144 
A  MISSION  CASTE  GIRLS'  SCHOOL  .  .  .  .164 
A  PRESBYTERY  OF  AN  INDIAN  CHURCH  .  .  .180 
NATIVE  LEADERS  OF  THE  INDIAN  CHURCH  .  .  .186 
VOORHEES  COLLEGE,  VELLORE,  INDIA  .  ...  198 

GROUP  OF  MISSIONARIES    ...  .  240 

EVOLUTION  OF  AN  INDIAN  CHURCH  BUILDING  .  .  256 
IDOLATRY  IN  INDIA  .......  288 


IX 


A   Biographical  Sketch 

By  Henry  Nitchie  Cobb 

JACOB  CHAMBERLAIN  was  born  in  Sharon, 
Conn.,  on  April  13,  1835.     Both  his  father's 
and  mother's  ancestors  came  over  to  join  the 
Massachusetts  Colony  of  the  Pilgrims  about  1650- 
1670.     Among  their  descendants  eighteen  were  min- 
isters or  ministers'  wives. 

His  father,  Jacob  Chamberlain,  "a  county  sur- 
veyor, justice  of  the  peace  and  well-to-do  farmer, 
belonged  to  a  family  of  religious  men,  church  deacons 
and  leading  men  in  local  affairs."  He  is  described 
by  his  son  Jacob  as  ' '  a  man  of  strong  faith  and  act- 
ive Christian  character,  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Church  for  seventy  years,  thirty -one  in  Sharon  and 
thirty-nine  at  Hudson,  Ohio.  He  was  always  one  of 
the  active  working  members  and,  according  to  his 
means,  one  of  the  most  liberal  supporters  of  the  Gos- 
pel at  home  and  abroad.  He  died  in  1878,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-six." 

"His  mother,  Anna  Nutting  Chamberlain,  be- 
longed to  a  family  which  for  several  generations, 

xi 


xii  A  Biographical  Sketch 

down  to  the  present  time,  has  furnished  many  in- 
ventors, teachers,  lawyers,  college  professors,  min- 
isters and  missionaries."  She  was  a  woman  of  ear- 
nest faith,  deep  piety  and  much  prayer,  and  intensely 
interested  in  missions.  If  there  be  any  benefit  in 
godly  ancestry  and  parentage,  that  benefit  was  richly 
his. 

In  1838  his  parents  removed  to  Hudson,  Ohio, 
where  the  Western  Eeserve  College,  now  University, 
offered  special  advantages  for  the  education  of  their 
children.  Their  house  became  a  missionaries'  home, 
in  which  the  children  breathed  a  missionary  atmos- 
phere. One  of  his  sisters  married  the  Eev.  Joseph 
Scudder  and,  in  1853,  went  with  him  to  India  where 
she  died.  Another  sister  had  expected  also  to  be- 
come a  missionary  to  India,  but  both  she  and  the 
gentleman  she  was  engaged  to  marry  died  before 
their  purpose  could  be  carried  out.  All  things  con- 
spired to  create  in  him  also  the  missionary  purpose. 
Yet  that  purpose  he  did  not  immediately  entertain. 

His  father  had  been  an  invalid  from  the  birth  of 
this  son,  and  soon  began  to  lean  on  him.  He  had  set 
his  heart  on  having  Jacob  take  the  farm  on  which 
they  lived  and  make  a  home  for  his  father  and 
mother.  This  purpose  the  son  dutifully  and  gladly 
embraced.  With  this  in  view,  he  entered  upon 
preparation  for  college,  that  he  might  become  a 
scientific  farmer.  Yet  the  cause  of  missions  was 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xiii 

even  then  dear  to  him  and  before  he  was  thirteen  he 
had  determined  that  when  he  became  a  man,  if  God 
should  prosper  him,  he  would  himself  support  a 
missionary. 

Separated  unto  the  Gospel. — But  the  Lord  had 
other  purposes  for  him.  If  ever  a  man  were  fore- 
ordained to  be  a  missionary, — "separated  unto  the 
Gospel  of  God," — Jacob  Chamberlain  evidently  was. 
His  boyhood  days  afforded  abundant  evidence  of  the 
possession  of  those  traits  and  capacities  which  were 
afterwards  so  signally  exhibited  and  which  so  emi- 
nently fitted  him  for  the  life  and  work  on  which  he 
ultimately  entered  :  Mental  and  physical  power  and 
alertness,  intense  earnestness  of  purpose,  an  indomi- 
table determination  to  overcome  obstacles  and  achieve 
the  best  possible  results,  unfaltering  courage  under 
all  conditions,  a  scorn  of  everything  low  and  mean, 
keenness  and  sweetness  of  humour,  cheerfulness  al- 
ways, with  the  desire  to  know  and  willingness  to  do 
the  will  of  God. 

That  will  concerning  his  life-work  God  seemed  to  him 
to  reveal  through  a  succession  of  serious  and  in  some 
cases  remarkable  accidents,  any  one  of  which  might 
easily  have  proved  fatal,  and  which  seemed  to  unfit 
him  for  a  farmer's  life.  At  the  age  of  fourteen,  while 
preparing  for  college  at  the  Lodi  Academy,  Michi- 
gan, of  which  his  maternal  uncle,  Prof.  Eufus  Nutting, 


xiv  A  Biographical  Sketch 

was  principal,  being  then  crippled  by  these  accidents, 
the  question  forced  itself  upon  him,  "  What  does  God 
mean  by  these  accidents  and  escapes  t  What  would 
He  have  me  do ! "  "I  prayed  over  it.  ' Be  a  mis- 
sionary '  came  a  voice  in  reply."  He  thought  of  the 
sister  and  her  affianced  husband  who  were  to  be  mis- 
sionaries to  India,  but  had  died.  "  Who  shall  take 
their  place !  rang  in  my  ears.  Here  am  I,  send  me, 
was  my  heart's  response." 

Added  to  these  providential  influences,  though  all 
unknown  to  him  at  the  time,  was  the  spiritual  influ- 
ence resulting  from  his  mother's  dedication  of  him  to 
the  Lord  for  missionary  service,  and  her  unceasing 
prayers.  After  his  ordination  and  when  his  passage 
had  been  engaged  for  India,  that  mother  informed 
him  that  at  his  birth  she  had  consecrated  him  to  the 
Lord  in  a  holy  vow,  and  that  her  first  act  on  rising 
from  her  bed  was  to  take  him  away  by  herself  into 
her  closet  and,  kneeling,  repeat  the  vow  and  ask  the 
Lord  to  make  him  a  missionary  to  the  heathen.  In 
the  faith  that  he  would  become  such  she  had  never 
faltered  and  for  it  she  had  never  ceased  to  pray.  No 
adequate  explanation  of  the  missionary,  Jacob  Cham- 
berlain, can  be  given  that  leaves  out  of  the  account 
that  devoted  Christian  mother.  This  incident  was 
related  by  Dr.  Chamberlain  with  much  detail  and 
great  effect  to  a  gathering  of  women,  at  the  Ecumen- 
ical Conference  in  New  York  in  1900,  as  he  urged  on 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xv 

Christian  mothers  the  consecration  of  their  children 
to  Christ  and  His  service. 

There  remained  one  obstacle,  his  father's  cherished 
plan.  He  had  in  his  feeble  health  leaned  on  this  his 
eldest  son  from  his  early  boyhood  ;  he  was  over  sixty 
and  all  his  plans  for  a  happy  old  age  centred  in  him. 
Could  he  and  would  he  give  him  up  ?  Let  that  son 
answer.  "  After  much  prayer  I  opened  the  matter 
to  him.  '  My  son,'  said  he,  '  I  have  known  for  some 
months  past  that  your  mind  has  been  working  on 
this  subject  and  many  a  night  have  I  lain  awake  all 
night  long,  thinking  whether  I  could  give  you  up. 
But  God  has  shown  me  abundantly  during  the  last 
two  years  that  your  life  is  not  in  my  hands.  He  has 
wonderfully  spared  you  now  these  many  times  for 
some  special  purpose,  and  I  cannot  bid  you  stay.  Go 
wherever  God  shall  call  you,  and  the  God  of  your 
fathers  be  with  you.'  My  mother  yielded  a  tearful 
but  joyful  assent, — tearful  when  she  thought  of 
the  separation,— joyful  that  she  should  be  thought 
worthy  to  have  a  son  labouring  as  a  missionary  of 
the  Cross.  And  thus  every  difficulty  was  removed." 

Thus  the  way  was  clear  and  from  that  time  noth- 
ing could  change  his  purpose.  To  its  realization  his 
studies  were  directed  and  every  energy  was  bent.  In 
1851  he  entered  Western  Eeserve  College.  In  his 
crippled  condition  the  pressure  proved  too  great. 
For  one  year,  1852-3,  broken  down  in  health  from 


xvi  A  Biographical  Sketch 

overstudy,  he  remained  at  home  working  on  the 
farm.  His  health  regained  he  returned  to  the 
college,  where  he  was  graduated,  valedictorian  of 
his  class,  in  1856. 

Coming  to  New  York  he  entered  Union  Seminary 
and  connected  himself  with  the  Collegiate  Eeformed 
Dutch  Church.  Being  attracted  by  what  he  heard  of 
the  superior  instruction  given  in  Hebrew,  he  re- 
moved to  New  Brunswick  and  the  theological 
seminary  there,  whence  he  was  graduated  in  1869. 
By  his  insistence  on  "the  best"  in  Hebrew,  he  was 
thus  unconsciously  preparing  himself  for  the  im- 
portant and  influential  part  he  afterwards  took  in  the 
revision  of  the  Telugu  Bible.  Already,  in  1858,  he 
had  applied  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the 
Eeformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  as  it  was  then 
called,  now  known  as  the  Eeformed  Church  in 
America,  for  appointment  as  a  missionary  to  India. 
His  reason  for  applying  thus  early  he  stated  to  be 
that  he  might  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity  to 
study  Tamil  afforded  by  the  presence  in  this  country 
of  members  of  the  Arcot  Mission.  In  his  letter  of 
application  he  said,  referring  to  the  decision  and 
Godspeed  of  his  father:  "From  that  time  to  this 
my  mind  has  not  had  one  wavering  thought  on  the 
subject.  And  though  I  had  a  long  and  severe 
struggle  before  I  could  be  brought  to  give  up  all  my 
plans  for  a  life  of  ease  and  comfort  in  this  land  and, 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xvii 

especially,  leave  my  parents  in  their  old  age,  yet 
now  I  should  regard  it  as  the  one  great  trial  of  my  life 
if  I  should  be  in  any  way  prevented  from  going  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  benighted.  'Yea  woe  is 
unto  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel '  to  the  heathen. 
And  if  there  is  one  spot  on  the  earth  more  benighted 
than  the  rest,  if  there  is  one  place  where  they  are 
more  degraded  in  the  lowest  depths  of  sin  and  misery 
and  have  most  lost  the  image  of  their  Maker,  there 
would  to  God  that  I  could  plant  the  standard  of  the 
cross  and  labour  for  His  sake." 

Of  his  course  in  the  seminary  one  of  his  few 
surviving  classmates,  possibly  the  only  one,  Prof. 
M.  B.  Eiddle  of  Allegheny  Seminary  writes : 
"  First  of  all,  his  intense  earnestness  amounting  to 
enthusiasm,  impressed  me.  He  was  a  faithful 
student ;  no  man  succeeds  in  the  foreign  field  who 
has  been  unfaithful  in  his  seminary  duties.  But  the 
trait  first  mentioned  was  the  dominant  one. 
Especially  when  missionary  effort  was  the  theme  did 
his  glowing  nature  assert  itself  in  his  utterances. 
His  piety  was  of  an  ardent  type  and  his  personal  in- 
fluence in  the  seminary  was  stimulating  to  his  fellow 
students." 

Not  content  with  the  work  in  his  theological 
course,  usually  considered  quite  sufficient,  he  deter- 
mined to  fit  himself  for  medical  service,  pursuing  the 
appropriate  studies,  chiefly  in  the  College  of 


xviii  A  Biographical  Sketch 

Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  New  York.  What  pro- 
ficiency he  attained  is  abundantly  attested  by  his  re- 
markable success  in  medicine  and  surgery  in  his 
chosen  field  of  labour.  The  degree  of  M.  D.  was 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  Western  University 
Medical  College  at  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Another  sort  of  preparation  for  the  work  that  lay 
before  him  was  found  in  his  service  as  colporteur, 
which  brought  him  into  contact  with  "all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men."  For  three  summers  he  laboured 
in  Ohio  and  Illinois  for  the  American  Tract  Society 
and  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication.  After 
his  ordination,  which  took  place  in  the  Marble 
Collegiate  Church  on  Fifth  Avenue  and  Twenty- 
ninth  Street,  New  York,  in  May,  1859,  he  was 
assigned  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  to  labour 
in  the  Eeformed  Churches  in  the  Western  Synod,  of 
Chicago.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  how  this  varied 
service  must  have  developed  in  him  that  rare 
faculty  of  meeting  men,  answering  their  arguments 
and  objections  and  pressing  home  upon  them  the 
truths  of  the  Gospel  which  was  so  remarkably  dis- 
played in  after  years.  Thus  in  all  ways  was  God  fit- 
ting him  for  the  work  he  was  to  do  in  India  and  for 
India,  and  for  the  cause  of  missions  among  the 
churches  at  home. 

On  September  7,  1859,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Charlotte  Close  Birge,  at  Hudson,  Ohio.  Miss 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xix 

Birge's  father  was  the  Eev.  Chester  Birge,  a  Presby- 
terian minister  formerly  settled  at  Vienna,  Ohio. 
The  lifelong  union  thus  formed  only  the  hand  of 
death  has  severed.  Six  sons  were  born  to  them,  all  in 
India,  of  whom  four  survive.  ' f  Surely  the  gods  must 
love  you"  was  the  exclamation  of  the  Brahmans,  as  son 
after  son  was  given  to  them.  Of  the  perfect  sympathy 
in  life  and  purpose,  the  helpful  service  and,  in  later 
years,  the  tender,  watchful  ministry  of  this  devoted 
wife  and  mother,  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak.  The 
dedication  of  his  first  book,  "  In  the  Tiger  Jungle," 
gives  expression  to  his  own  sense  of  what  she  was  to 
him:  "To  her  who  for  thirty-seven  years  has 
shared  my  labours  and  my  joys  and  shares  them 
still." 

A  farewell  service  was  held  for  them  in  the  church 
in  which  he  had  been  ordained,  and  on  December  21st, 
he  sailed  from  Boston  with  Mrs.  Chamberlain,  in  the 
ship  Goddess,  arriving  in  India  on  April  12,  1860. 

It  is  impossible,  in  so  brief  a  sketch,  to  present  in 
detail  and  in  chronological  order  the  story  of  so 
strenuous  a  missionary  life  as  that  which  there 
began.  To  comparatively  few  men  has  it  been  given 
to  lead  such  a  life  as  his,  and  to  leave  behind  a  record 
of  such  devoted,  many-sided  and  self-sacrificing  serv- 
ice. It  must  suffice  to  point  out  its  salient  features. 

The  Arcot  Mission  with  which,  from  this  time,  Dr. 
Chamberlain's  name  and  work  were  indissolubly 


xx  A  Biographical  Sketch 

associated,  was  founded  in  1853  by  the  three 
brothers,  Henry  Martyn,  William  "W.  and  Joseph 
Scudder,  all  sons  of  Dr.  John  Scudder,  the  pioneer 
medical  missionary  from  this  country.  It  occupied 
considerable  portions  of  the  North  and  South  Arcot 
Districts,  lying  west  of  Madras,  to  which  afterwards 
smaller  portions  of  the  Mysore  and  Cuddapah  Dis- 
tricts further  north  and  west  were  added.  In  the 
two  Arcot  Districts  the  Tamils  greatly  preponder- 
ated. In  the  latter  the  preponderance  of  the  Telu- 
gus  was  even  greater. 

The  work  of  the  Mission  had  hitherto  been  almost 
entirely  confined  to  the  Tamil  speaking  people.  Al- 
most of  necessity  Dr.  Chamberlain  first  learned  the 
Tamil  language.  In  1861,  however,  he  was  assigned 
to  Palmaner,  the  then  most  northerly  station,  to  take 
up  work  among  the  Telugus,  and  it  became  necessary 
for  him  to  learn  their  language  also. 

The  Preacher  and  Organizer. — Two  years  later 
the  Mission  determined  to  enlarge  its  work  among 
the  Telugus  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Chamberlain  advanced 
and  took  up  new  Telugu  territory  in  the  adjoining 
district  of  Cuddapah.  A  new  station  was  opened  at 
Madanapalle,  thirty-five  miles  north  of  Palmaner, 
and  the  centre  of  a  large  and  important  district  in 
which  the  Gospel  had  never  been  preached.  Tem- 
porary quarters  were  erected  which  were  turned  into 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xxi 

a  schoolhouse  when  the  present  commodious  bunga- 
low was  built  by  him  in  later  years.  A  little  school- 
house  church  with  mud  walls  and  thatched  with 
rushes  was  also  put  up,  in  which  Sabbath  services 
were  held  for  the  very  few  native  Christians  who  ac- 
companied them  and  such  others  as  might  come  in. 
The  interesting  story  of  the  establishment  of  the  new 
station  is  given  in  Chapter  VII  of  "  In  the  Tiger 
Jungle."  This  station  became  his  home  and  the 
centre  of  his  multiplied  activities  until  he  was  com- 
pelled to  give  up  the  exhausting  labours  of  evangelis- 
tic touring  and  the  care  of  villages,  and  exchange 
them  for  literary  work  in  the  more  salubrious  climate 
of  the  Nilgiri  Hills. 

Every  year  while  he  remained  on  the  field  and  his 
strength  lasted,  such  tours  were  made  by  him  and 
helpers  chosen  for  the  work,  among  the  numerous 
villages  through  all  the  surrounding  region.  These 
tours  lengthened  into  weeks  and  even  months.  Their 
method  and  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the  vil- 
lages, common  more  or  less  to  all  the  stations  of  the 
Mission,  is  described  in  the  chapter  just  referred  to. 
His  thorough  knowledge  not  only  of  the  language 
but  of  the  literature  of  the  people,  and  his  readiness 
in  quoting  and  chanting  pertinent  extracts  from 
their  ancient  Vedas  and  well  known  poets,  thus  en- 
forcing a  truth  or  answering  and  silencing  questions 
and  objections,  gave  him  distinct  advantage  with 


xxii  A  Biographical  Sketch 

those  of  the  higher  castes  as  well  as  with  the  com- 
mon people.  No  uncertain  nor  ambiguous  gospel 
proceeded  from  his  lips.  His  message  was  distinctly 
one  of  "good  tidings,"  prompted  by  love,  a  mes- 
sage of  salvation  from  sin  and  its  burden  through 
the  great  love  of  God  and  the  mediatorial  work  and 
sacrifice  of  His  Son.  Wherever  he  spoke,  this  story 
was  so  clearly,  so  winningly  and  so  courageously 
told,  that  multitudes  desired  to  know  more  of  it  and 
eagerly  bought  large  numbers  of  the  "wonderful 
books"  in  which  it  might  be  read  when  the  mis- 
sionary had  gone  on  his  way. 

In  1863,  the  same  year  in  which  he  removed  to 
Madanapalle,  Dr.  Chamberlain  made  his  noted  Bible 
tour,  in  company  with  four  carefully  selected  native 
helpers,  "picked  men,"  to  Hyderabad  and  the 
Upper  Godavery.  It  was  probably  the  longest  tour 
made  by  him  or  any  other  member  of  the  Mission. 
Probably,  also,  it  was  the  most  dangerous.  The 
region  visited  had  never  before  been  explored  by  a 
missionary.  It  was  little  known  and  by  many  re- 
garded as  exceedingly  dangerous,  both  from  the 
known  and  unknown  perils  of  the  way  and  the 
character  of  the  inhabitants.  In  spite  of  many 
warning  letters  and  messages  from  missionaries, 
civilians  and  others,  he  ' '  surveyed  the  danger, 
measured  the  obstacles,  counted  the  cost  and,  con- 
sidering none  of  them  sufficient  to  cancel  the  com- 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xxiii 

mand,  'Go  ye  into  all  the  world,'  "  he  covenanted  for 
the  journey  with  the  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  always," 
and  started  on  his  way.  He  took  with  him  two  cart- 
loads of  Scriptures, — Gospels,  New  Testaments  and 
Bibles, — and  tracts,  chiefly  in  Telugu,  but  with  a 
small  supply  in  each  of  the  five  languages  they  were 
likely  to  meet,  each  one  of  the  party  being  able  to 
preach  in  two  or  three  of  them.  Leaving  Palmaner 
in  June  and  "passing  through  Cuddapah  and 
Nandyal,  the  little  band  entered  the  Nizam's 
dominions  at  Kurnool,  preaching  and  distributing 
books  as  they  went,  and  reached  Secunderabad  on 
the  8th  of  August.  Continuing  their  journey  to  the 
northeast  they  passed  through  Warangal,  the  ancient 
capital  of  the  powerful  Telugu  kings,  to  the  Upper 
Godavery."  Two  weeks  were  spent  here  and  a  short 
trip  made  into  the  Gond  country.  Turning  down 
the  Godavery  they  returned  home  by  the  way  of 
Bajahnmndry,  Masulipatam  and  Nellore,  having 
been  absent  between  four  and  five  months  and 
travelled  nearly  2,000  miles.  "Many  were  the 
hardships  endured  and  the  perils  encountered  but, 
nothing  daunted,  the  little  company  with  its  in- 
trepid leader  pushed  on  and  accomplished  a  noble 
work  for  the  Master.  Some  8,000  Bibles  and  por- 
tions were  put  in  circulation  during  the  tour,  chiefly 
by  sales."  Some  of  the  most  thrilling  incidents  con- 
nected with  this  tour  are  related  in  Dr.  Chamberlain's 


xxiv  A  Biographical  Sketch 

graphic  style  in  his  books  "  In  the  Tiger  Jungle  "  and 
"The  Cobra's  Den,"  notably  in  Chapters  I  and  II  of 
the  former,  "Does  God  Hear  Prayer?"  and  "The 
Man  with  the  Wonderful  Books,"  and  Chapter  III 
of  the  latter,  "  The  Angry  Mob  and  the  Story  of  the 
Cross." 

From  the  jungle-fever  contracted  on  this  tour, 
Dr.  Chamberlain  was  never  freed.  In  spite  of  all 
remedies  and  "  barrels  of  quinine  "  as  he  used  to  say, 
it  continued  to  torment  him.  It  drove  him  to  the 
Hills,  to  Australia  and  more  than  once  to  this  coun- 
try for  relief.  Under  its  pressure  all  his  later  work 
was  done.  Only  an  originally  vigorous  constitution, 
a  tenacious  grip  on  life,  a  resolute  will  and  firm 
reliance  on  and  devotion  to  the  will  of  God  could 
have  carried  him  through. 

The  number  of  tours  of  lesser  extent  made  by  him 
was  very  large.  Of  their  nature  the  report  of  a 
single  year  may  give  some  conception.  "  I  have  been 
out  on  six  preaching  tours  during  the  year  (1871). 
Three  of  these  were  five  weeks  long  each.  I  have 
spent  on  tours  125  days."  "  My  native  helpers  were 
out  293  days  and  we  together  preached  739  times,  to 
538  different  audiences  in  351  towns  and  villages,  to 
18,730  people.  We  have  also  sold  on  these  tours 
2,403  Scriptures.  Besides  this  we  have  preached  sys- 
tematically in  Madanapalle  and  the  surrounding  vil- 
lages 527  times,  to  13,661  people  and  sold  1,030  books 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xxv 

and  tracts."  Of  these  tours,  as  practised  by  himself 
and  other  members  of  the  Mission,  Dr.  Chamberlain 
wrote  in  1902  :  "  It  is  safe  to  say  that  of  the  10,060 
converts  now  on  the  rolls  of  the  Arcot  Mission,  more 
than  eighty  per  cent,  have  been  brought  in  by  this 
'  public  proclamation  '  of  the  Gospel  in  the  vernac- 
ulars. These  have,  indeed,  come  mostly  from  the 
lower  classes,  but  a  large  percentage  of  our  high  caste 
converts  have  also  thus  been  brought  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ." 

The  Beloved  Physician. — The  nature  and  extent 
of  the  medical  work  carried  on  by  Dr.  Chamberlain 
are  so  fully  set  forth  and  illustrated  in  Chapters  VI 
and  VII  of  this  volume  that  there  is  the  less  need  to 
dwell  upon  it  at  length.  It  was  his  intention,  in  re- 
moving with  his  family  from  Palmaner  to  Madana- 
palle,  to  devote  himself  exclusively  to  evangelistic 
work.  But  God  had  other  plans  for  him.  Like  his 
divine  Master,  the  mission  doctor  "  could  not  be  hid." 
Even  while  their  little  missionary  bungalow  was  build- 
ing, in  1864,  accidents  among  the  workmen  demanded 
the  exercise  of  his  medical  and  surgical  skill.  The 
people  of  the  town  when  in  distress  insisted  on  com- 
ing to  him  for  relief  while  he  and  his  family  were 
still  in  tents. 

Soon  after  they  had  moved  into  their  little  house 
there  came  to  him  a  summons,  at  dead  of  night,  to 


xxv  i  A  Biographical  Sketch 

come  and  see  a  man,  Ramanna  by  name,  whose  right 
hand  and  forearm  had  been  crushed  and  mangled. 
He  had  been  placing  cocoanuts  under  the  wheels  of 
the  great  idol  car  of  the  town  as  it  was  being  drawn 
back  from  the  river  to  its  place  by  the  temple.  The 
car,  which  had  been  set  while  the  crowd  of  devotees 
were  tugging  at  the  ropes  and  would  not  move,  sud- 
denly surged  forward  and  the  hand  and  arm  were 
caught  and  crushed  beneath  its  weight.  His  friends 
had  lifted  and  carried  him  to  his  house  and  ran  to  get 
the  new  foreign  doctor  to  come  and  see  if  he  could 
save  him.  The  fractures  were  so  many  and  the 
lights  so  dim  that  only  palliatives  and  sedatives  and 
applications  to  staunch  the  flow  of  blood  could  be  ad- 
ministered. But  a  good  part  of  the  night  was  spent 
in  studying  the  case  and  all  night  long  the  missionary 
prayed  that  God  would  give  him  that  man's  life,  that 
so  a  break  might  be  made  in  the  solid  ranks  of  oppos- 
ing heathenism  in  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  nu- 
merous castes  of  the  new  station.  The  prayer  was  an  - 
swered.  When  morning  came  the  doctor  worked 
over  him  for  two  hours  in  his  own  house.  Finally 
the  sufferer  slept  and  his  friends  said,  "  The  mission- 
ary' s  God  is  going  to  save  him. ' '  The  man  recovered, 
after  careful  and  anxious  nursing,  was  able  even  to 
use  that  hand  in  ploughing  and  reaping.  From  that 
day  neither  he  nor  any  of  his  family  connection  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  worship  of  that  idol ;  num- 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xxvii 

bers  of  them  often  came  to  the  Mission  church  and 
one  of  them  at  least  became  and  died  a  believer  in 
Jesus. 

The  fame  of  this  act  of  healing  spread  widely. 
From  that  time  it  became  evident  to  Dr.  Chamberlain 
that  he  could  not  avoid  rendering  such  surgical  and 
medical  aid  as  he  was  able  to  the  people.  Putting 
up  in  1865  a  thatched  veranda  at  the  end  of  the  house, 
into  which  his  study  window  opened,  he  gave  out 
that  he  would  treat  all  who  would  come  on  three  spe- 
cific days  of  the  week.  Soon  fifty  or  more  came  on 
each  of  these  mornings.  Before  examining  and  treat- 
ing them  he  would  sit  in  his  study  window  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  each  group. 

Four  years  later  the  crowds  had  become  too  great 
to  be  thus  treated.  Many  who  desired  to  listen  to 
the  preaching  could  not  get  within  sound  of  his  voice. 
This  led  to  the  removal  of  medical  appliances  to  a 
thatched  schoolhouse  at  the  town  end  of  the  Mission 
compound.  The  patients  soon  numbered  over  one 
hundred  per  day,  with  many  serious  surgical  opera- 
tions. By  July,  1869,  the  work  became  so  heavy  and 
the  expense  so  great,  that  Dr.  Chamberlain  appealed 
to  the  Madras  Government  to  establish  a  Government 
hospital  and  dispensary  at  Madanapalle.  This  was 
done.  The  "  travellers'  bungalow  "  and  its  outbuild- 
ings were  remodelled  and  repaired  at  the  cost  of  the 
Government,  and  Mr.  Thomas  "Ward,  a  pronounced 


xxviii  A  Biographical  Sketch 

Christian  and  one  of  the  best  qualified  men  ever 
graduated  from  the  medical  college,  was  sent  to  take 
charge  of  it.  There  he  remained  for  nearly  thirty 
years,  working  in  thorough  sympathy  with  Dr.  Cham- 
berlain and  winning  his  confidence  and  warm  friend- 
ship. The  new  institution  went  right  on  in  the  old 
way.  The  Gospel  was  daily  preached  and  two  high 
caste  patients  before  long  came  out  as  Christians  and 
were  baptized.  So  slight  was  the  break  that  the  en- 
tire community  seemed  still  to  regard  it  as  ''the  mis- 
sionary's hospital." 

Being  thus  set  free  to  resume  his  more  distant 
preaching  tours,  Dr.  Chamberlain  organized  a  travel- 
ling dispensary,  with  two  good-sized  medicine  chests 
filled  with  ample  supplies  of  medicines  and  with  in- 
struments suited  for  any  operations  that  could  prop- 
erly be  performed  in  tents.  These  he  carried  with 
him  on  his  tours,  accompanied  by  a  dispenser  or  com- 
pounder  whom  he  had  trained  in  the  hospital.  Thus 
he  carried,  together  with  the  Gospel,  medical  and 
surgical  help  and  relief  to  multitudes  in  the  numer- 
ous towns  and  villages  who,  but  for  this,  would  have 
been  utterly  destitute  of  such  aid,  often  treating  in 
his  tent  over  one  hundred  cases  a  day  and  once  138. 
Many  villages  were  reached  and  conciliated  which 
had  been  previously  hostile  or  indifferent.  In  1873 
he  reported  that  about  30,000  patients  had  received 
treatment  at  his  hands. 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xxix 

He  still  retained  the  most  important  operations  in 
the  Madanapalle  dispensary,  especially  in  ophthal- 
mic surgery,  and  would  send  to  it  patients  on  whom 
he  could  not  operate  satisfactorily  in  his  tent.  No 
matter  how  distant  his  camp  might  be,  he  would  ride 
in  to  Madanapalle,  ten  and  even  twenty  miles,  per- 
form the  operations  and  then  return  to  camp. 
Though  this  entailed  a  great  amount  of  extra  fatigue, 
he  was  persuaded  that  it  enhanced  his  power  for  good 
in  the  district.  An  account  of  one  of  these  medico- 
evangelistic  tours  is  given  in  Chapter  IX  of  "  The 
Cobra's  Den." 

As  the  result  of  visits  to  Palmaner  and  the  treat- 
ment of  hundreds  of  patients  there,  he  was  besought 
in  1871  to  establish  a  permanent  dispensary  in  that 
town.  This  he  declined  to  do  and  returned  to 
Madanapalle.  Within  two  weeks  a  deputation  com- 
posed of  leading  Hindu  and  Mohammedan  residents 
of  Palmaner  appeared  at  Madanapalle  with  a  sub- 
scription paper  signed  by  people  of  Palmaner  and 
vicinity,  pledging  Es.  1, 700  for  initial  expenses  if  he 
would  open  a  hospital  and  dispensary  there.  He 
still  felt  it  to  be  impossible  and  advised  them  to  ap- 
ply to  the  Government,  adding  that  then  "their  re- 
ligious sensibilities  would  not  be  interfered  with  by 
the  daily  preaching  and  praying."  They  replied 
very  earnestly  that  these  were  two  features  that  they 
would  welcome  as  they  were  convinced  that  the  treat- 


xxx  A  Biographical  Sketch 

ment  had  done  them  far  more  good  because  of  the 
missionary's  prayers,  and  that  the  subscriptions  were 
not  to  be  paid  unless  he  would  take  charge  of  the 
hospital.  He  still  declined  and  they  apparently  re- 
linquished their  purpose.  Not  so  in  reality.  Through 
the  Collector  of  the  North  Arcot  District  and  at  their 
urgent  solicitation,  Dr.  Chamberlain  was  at  last  in- 
duced to  open  the  new  hospital  under  the  auspices  of 
the  local  government  but  with  the  distinct  under- 
standing that  it  was  to  be  under  his  charge.  The 
supplies  he  purchased  with  the  Es.  1,700  contributed 
by  the  people  of  Palmaner.  A  Christian  staff  was 
appointed  and  he  remained  there  some  weeks,  preach- 
ing and  performing  operations,  until  the  institution 
was  fairly  on  its  feet.  He  continued  to  visit  it  from 
Madanapalle  for  serious  operations  and  monthly  in- 
spection, until  1874,  when  he  was  obliged  to  leave 
India  on  sick-leave. 

From  1878  when  he  returned  from  furlough,  to 
1884,  when  he  was  obliged  again  to  leave  the  coun- 
try, Dr.  Chamberlain  continued  to  supervise  the 
medical  work  of  the  district,  including  three  dispen- 
saries, and  doing  a  large  amount  of  work  himself  at 
no  little  cost  of  time  and  toil.  The  confidence  of  the 
people  was  his  in  a  remarkable  degree  and  the  work 
prospered  under  his  direction.  From  1884  he  gave 
up  the  charge  of  all  these  medical  interests  and  his 
medical  activity  was  chiefly  confined  to  work  done  in 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xxxi 

his  tents  on  preaching  tours.     Even  those  he  was  un- 
able to  continue  many  years  longer. 

The  Scholar  and  Literary  Worker. — It  was  not 
surprising  that  his  Hebrew  scholarship  with  his 
knowledge  of  the  Telugu  language  and  literature 
should  point  him  out  as  the  one  man  of  the  Mission 
to  serve,  with  representatives  of  other  Missions,  on 
the  committee  for  the  revision  of  the  Telugu  Bible. 
From  1873  to  1896  he  was  its  chairman.  No  work 
could  have  been  more  congenial  and  scarcely  any 
other  more  important.  He  corresponded  extensively 
with  other  scholars  in  India  and  elsewhere  and  for 
ten  years  gave  to  the  work  fully  half  his  time,  for 
which  the  American  Bible  Society  contributed  half 
his  salary  and  his  expenses.  He  was  also,  for  many 
years,  a  member  of  the  Telugu  Committee  of  the  Be- 
ligious  Tract  Society. 

His  admiration  of  the  "mellifluous  and  beautiful 
language  "  of  the  Telugus,  combined  with  his  sense 
of  the  needs  of  the  rising  Church  and  the  multiplying 
Christian  families,  led  to  the  compilation  of  his 
Telugu  Hymn  Book.  Many  of  the  hymns  were  trans- 
lations,— many  he  composed  himself.  The  book  was 
greatly  appreciated  and  generally  used  throughout 
the  Telugu  country  and  among  the  Telugus  of 
Burmah.  It  passed  through  five  editions,  the  last  of 
11,500  copies,  all  of  which  were  sold.  It  was  most 


xxxii  A  Biographical  Sketch 

fitting  that  he  should  be  carried  to  the  grave  amid 
the  singing  of  these  beautiful  hymns  by  the  people 
who  loved  him  and  whom  he  had  so  faithfully  loved 
and  served. 

In  other  directions,  too,  his  pen  was  busy.  His 
name  and  work  became  known  far  beyond  the  bounds 
of  India.  His  many  stirring  letters  and  appeals  in 
American,  English  and  Australian  papers  served  to 
stimulate  and  increase  interest  in  missions,  their 
problems  and  progress,  in  all  those  lands. 

Few  publications,  probably,  have  done  more  to 
familiarize  the  Christian  public  with  the  condition  of 
the  people  of  India,  and  the  nature  of  missionary 
work  carried  on  among  them,  than  the  leaflets  which, 
from  time  to  time,  issued  from  his  pen.  Their  circu- 
lation has  been  wide,  not  only  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Church  he  represented,  but  in  the  Christian  com- 
munity generally,  other  boards  and  societies  having 
sought  the  privilege,  freely  accorded,  of  printing 
some  of  them  for  themselves.  Founded  almost  en- 
tirely on  incidents  within  his  own  experience,  they 
presented,  in  graphic  style,  the  methods  of  evangel- 
istic work,  of  meeting  inquiries,  answering  objec- 
tions, appealing  to  the  inmost  thoughts  and  cravings 
of  human  nature,  and  of  the  effects  of  the  truth  thus 
proclaimed.  The  same  may  be  said  of  his  books, 
"In  the  Tiger  Jungle,"  issued  in  1896,  and  "The 
Cobra's  Den"  in  1900.  Of  these  books  many  thou- 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xxxiii 

sands  have  been  sold.  Men,  before  sceptical  as  to  the 
value  of  missionary  effort  or  indifferent  as  to  its 
prosecution  have  been  convinced  by  reading  them 
and  become  steadfast  and  active  friends  of  missions. 

It  was  in  his  mind  and  on  his  heart  to  prepare,  as 
intimated  in  the  preface  to  "  In  the  Tiger  Jungle," 
"a  more  pretentious  work  on  India  and  the 
Hindus."  Such  a  work  by  such  a  man  would  have 
been  of  inestimable  value  "  to  those  interested  in  the 
Orient,"  of  whom  the  number  is  increasing  every 
day.  But  time  and  strength  were  insufficient  for  the 
task. 

The  preparation  of  a  Bible  Dictionary  in  Telugu 
lay  near  his  heart.  For  it  he  began  to  make 
preparation  quite  early  in  his  missionary  life.  To  it 
especially  such  time  and  strength  as  he  had  in  the 
last  eight  years  of  his  life  were  devoted.  It  was  his 
thought  that  for  this  purpose  no  mere  translation  of 
any  existing  work  would  suffice,  however  well  it 
might  be  adapted  to  meet  the  wants  of  occidental 
readers.  The  Bible  is  an  oriental  book.  Many 
things  in  it  requiring  elucidation  for  readers  of  the 
West  have  little  difficulty  and  need  little  or  no  ex- 
planation for  Orientals.  On  the  other  hand,  subjects 
touched  lightly  in  existing  books  of  the  kind,  or 
barely  touched  upon  at  all,  need  careful  handling  for 
the  readers  whom  he  sought  to  help  and  benefit.  On 
this  principle  he  proceeded  and,  as  a  result,  an 


xxxiv  A  Biographical  Sketch 

entirely  new  book  grew  upon  his  hands.  After  his 
return  from  his  last  furlough  to  the  United  States,  in 
the  quiet  retirement  of  Coonoor,  the  station  in  the 
Nilgiri  Hills,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  production  of 
this  work,  which  he  hoped  to  live  to  complete,  leav- 
ing it  as  his  last  gift  and  legacy  to  his  Telugu 
people. 

When  stricken  down  by  paralysis  in  1902,  all  work 
upon  it  and  all  hope  of  its  completion  were  for  a  time 
abandoned.  But  as  he  slowly  came  back  to  life  and 
recovered  strength,  hope  revived,  and  with  the  aid 
of  a  competent  assistant  he  resumed  his  labour  giving 
to  it  so  much  time  as  his  strength  would  allow, 
earnestly  hoping  he  might  live  to  complete  it.  In 
1906  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  sending  the  sheets  for 
the  first  volume  to  the  printer,  and  wrote,  "  I  am  not 
going  to  wait  until  the  last  sheets  of  the  book  come 
from  the  press  before  I  say, '  it  is  time  to  give  glory 
to  God.'  I  feel  like  giving  thanks  and  glory  to  God 
just  now.  If  you  had  seen  me  as  I  was  in  June  and 
July,  1902,  you  would  not  wonder  that  I  feel  so. 
Then  I  had  recovered  enough  to  think  over  and 
mourn  over  the  interruption  of  the  work  on  which  I 
had  already  expended  so  much  labour  and  thought, 
but  no  one  dared  to  encourage  the  thought  that  I 
would  ever  be  able  to  take  hold  of  the  work  again 
and  carry  it  on  even  to  the  bringing  out  of  one 
volume."  <(  JsTow  that  the  first  volume  is  in  press 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xxxv 

and  will  ere  long  be  out,  I  do  not  feel  as  anxious  as  I 
did,  for  if  I  should  now  be  suddenly  summoned,  some 
one  else  would  take  it  up  and  carry  it  through,  and 
perhaps  do  it  far  better  than  I  could,  though  no  one 
else  has  had  nearly  the  preparation  for  the  work  that 
I  have,  by  God's  providence,  myself  had.  But  my 
conviction  still  is  and  grows  stronger  that  it  was  for 
the  completion  of  this  very  work  that  God  so  wonder- 
fully raised  me  up." 

As  a  partial  relief  from  this  exacting  labour,  and,  as 
he  said,  to  rest  the  tired  "  Telugu  brain  cells,"  he 
interested  himself  in  preparing  and  arranging  for 
publication  the  chapters  which  follow  in  this  volume, 
a  few  of  them  newly  written,  all  of  them  characteris- 
tic. Whether  this  supposed  relief  was  a  benefit  to 
his  overtaxed  brain  or  otherwise,  may  perhaps  be 
questioned.  But  the  time  came  last  year  when 
the  Telugu  brain  cells  would  respond  no  longer. 
The  work  was  laid  aside,  with  his  long-cherished 
hope, — to  be  taken' up  by  him  no  more.  The  com- 
pleted volume  remains  a  beautiful  but  unfinished 
monument  to  his  high  aim  and  resolute  endeavour. 

The  Champion  of  Union  in  Mission  Fields. — In 
still  another  line  of  effort  Dr.  Chamberlain  was 
privileged  to  render  signal  service, — that  of  the 
union  of  churches  in  foreign  mission  fields,  and 
especially  in  India.  When  this  thought  was  new  to 


xxx vi  A  Biographical  Sketch 

many,  and  to  many  not  altogether  welcome,  he 
became  its  ardent  and  distinguished  champion. 
When  at  home  on  furlough  he  advocated  it  with  all 
his  mental  and  spiritual  force,  clearly  discerning  and 
as  clearly  showing  how  the  cause  of  Christ  was 
weakened  and  the  triumph  of  His  cross  delayed  by 
the  multiplied  divisions,  often  resulting  in  rivalries 
and  interference  if  not  open  strife,  among  those  who 
were  ostensibly  seeking  the  same  object,  the  bringing 
of  the  whole  world  to  Christ.  On  one  occasion,  a  meet- 
ing called  for  the  consideration  of  this  subject  in  one 
of  the  largest  churches  in  the  city  of  New  York  was 
rescued  from  flat  and  dismal  failure  by  his  earnest 
and  eloquent  appeal. 

In  1885,  being  at  home  on  furlough  and  a  member 
of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Eeformed  Church  in 
America,  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  Standing 
Committee  on  Foreign  Missions.  At  that  meeting 
and  largely  through  his  advocacy,  the  Classis  of 
Arcot  was  "permitted  and  advised  to  initiate  such 
measures  as  shall  tend  to  bring  together  the  churches 
of  the  Presbyterian  polity  in  India."  The  Classis 
was,  furthermore,  assured  that  the  Synod  would  en- 
dorse its  union  "  with  such  a  union  Church  of  Christ 
in  India  composed  of  those  holding  the  Eeformed 
faith  and  Presbyterian  polity."  As  it  was  under- 
stood that  he  would  be  passing  through  Great  Britain 
on  his  return  to  India  about  the  time  of  the  meeting 


A  Biographical  Sketch          xxxvii 

of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assemblies,  Dr.  Cham- 
berlain was  "  commissioned  to  present  to  such  of  the 
Presbyterian  Assemblies  as  he  may  be  able  to  visit, 
the  fraternal  greetings  of  this  body,  and  to  draw 
their  attention  to  the  unanimous  action  of  this  body 
in  favour  of  organic  union  on  Mission  Fields  of  those 
holding  the  Eeformed  faith  with  the  Presbyterian 
polity,  in  the  hope  that  similar  permissive  action 
may  be  taken  by  their  respective  bodies  authoriz- 
ing their  Missions  in  India  to  take  part  in  such  a 
union." 

This  commission  he  gladly  accepted.  Though  the 
time  of  his  return  did  not  permit  him  to  visit  and 
address  the  Assemblies,  yet  a  fine  representative 
gathering  of  all  the  Scotch  Churches  was  held  in 
November,  1887,  at  which  he  "  spoke  for  an  hour  and 
conferred  for  an  hour  longer."  His  statement  had 
its  effect.  It  was  characterized  by  the  chairman 
and  by  the  leading  representative  of  the  Established 
Church,  as  "the  eloquent,  lucid  and  convincing  ad- 
dress of  the  representative  of  the  Eeformed  Church 
in  America."  Strong  efforts  were  made  to  induce 
him  to  remain  for  the  meetings  of  the  General  As- 
semblies in  the  following  May  or,  if  that  were  not 
possible,  to  return  from  India  at  that  time  to  attend 
the  four  Scotch,  the  Irish,  the  English  and  the  Welsh 
Assemblies,  with  other  great  gatherings  then  in  pros- 
pect. But  his  face  was  set  towards  and  his  heart 


xxxviii          A  Biographical  Sketch 

upon  his  work  in  India  and  he  declined.  The  visit 
however  bore  fruit  and  to  it  may  be  ascribed,  in  part 
at  least,  the  successive  and  successful  union  move- 
ments which  resulted  in  the  establishment,  first,  of 
the  South  India  United  Chureh  in  1902,  composed  of 
the  Churches  of  the  Classis  of  Arcot  of  the  Eeformed 
Church  and  the  Madras  Presbytery  of  the  United 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and,  second,  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  India  (for  all  India),  in  1905. 

To  the  promotion  of  these  movements  he  devoted 
himself  with  his  accustomed  ardour.  He  had  a 
principal  share  in  arranging  the  plan  and  details  of 
the  necessary  proceedings  for  consummating  the 
union  in  South  India,  and  was  elected  the  first 
moderator  or  president  of  the  newly  constituted 
"Synod  of  South  India,"  in  1902. 

Known  as  he  was  throughout  all  India,  it  was 
natural  that  his  counsel  and  aid  should  be  sought  in 
planning  for  the  larger  union  of  all  Presbyterian  and 
Eeformed  Churches  in  the  Empire.  Here,  too,  he 
rendered  such  assistance  as  was  possible  for  him, 
urging  strongly,  that  the  creed  and  canons  adopted 
for  South  India  should  be  accepted  for  the  larger 
Church. 

The  Consummate  Advocate  of  Missions.— Ten 
years  of  Dr.  Chamberlain's  most  useful  and  eventful 
life  were  spent  in  this  country  on  furlough.  Part  of 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xxxix 

a  year  also  was  spent  in  Australia.  In  every  instance 
these  departures  from  the  field  were  made  imperative 
by  the  condition  of  his  health.  Yet  they  served  to 
bring  him  into  contact  with  the  Churches,  his  own 
and  others,  and  gave  him  the  opportunity  to  impart 
to  them  something  of  his  own  flaming  zeal  "for 
Christ  and  India'7  and  for  the  whole  non-Christian 
world.  Perhaps  in  no  respect  and  in  no  other  way 
did  he  render  more  signal  and  effective  service  to  the 
cause  of  Christ  throughout  the  world. 

Four  times  he  revisited  his  native  country,  the  first 
in  1874.  Meeting  in  Egypt  a  party  of  friends  intend- 
ing to  make  the  tour  of  Sinai  and  Palestine,  and  hav- 
ing the  means  to  do  so  generously  provided,  he  joined 
them.  Careful  observations  were  made  and  the  ques- 
tion of  the  true  Mt.  Sinai  was  critically  studied  on 
the  spot.  Much  valuable  material  and  information 
were  accumulated  which  he  subsequently  found  of 
use  in  the  preparation  of  his  Bible  Dictionary. 

Arrived  at  home  with  his  family,  he  soon  began, 
notwithstanding  the  fever  which  had  made  his  com- 
ing a  necessity,  to  make  those  unique  and  stirring 
addresses  which  captivated  his  hearers  and  spread 
his  name  and  fame  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  the 
Church  whose  missionary  he  was.  A  new  force  had 
come  into  the  life  and  work  of  the  Church, — a  new 
and  distinct  stimulus  to  missionary  activity.  These 
addresses  were  characterized,  as  all  who  heard  and 


xl  A  Biographical  Sketch 

remember  them  will  testify,  by  great  intellectual 
force,  breadth  of  vision,  wide  knowledge  and  a  firm 
grasp  of  facts  and  principles.  Added  to  this  was  a 
certain  clearness  alike  of  perception  and  of  statement 
which  enabled  him  to  produce  the  impression  he  de- 
sired to  effect.  This  effect  was  heightened  by  a  won- 
derful fertility  and  aptness  of  illustration  ;  each  state- 
ment of  truth  or  principle  being  enforced  by  pertinent 
and  telling  incidents  drawn  chiefly  from  his  own 
varied  experience.  In  this  he  was  greatly  helped  by 
a  marvellously  retentive  memory  which  no  detail, 
however  minute,  escaped,  and  by  a  vivid  imagination 
which  clothed  anew  with  life  the  scenes  he  sought  to 
describe  and  enabled  him  to  present  them  as  real,  as 
in  a  series  of  "living  pictures,"  to  the  apprehension 
of  his  hearers.  More  than  all  was  the  intense  ear- 
nestness which  breathed  in  all  his  utterances  on  the 
great  subject  that  filled  his  mind  and  heart.  Evi- 
dently this  was  not  a  mere  professional  pleader  but 
one  whose  very  life  was  in  the  things  he  uttered  and 
the  work  he  did.  Hence  they  became  a  thing  of  life 
to  others,  and  multitudes. — among  them  many  of  the 
most  influential  friends  and  generous  givers  to  for- 
eign missions, — ascribed  their  first  interest  in  them 
to  having  heard  him  speak.  His  services  were  every- 
where in  demand  and  it  was  difficult  to  restrain  him 
within  reasonable  bounds.  A  consuming  desire  to 
plead  the  cause  of  India,  his  India,  "  Christ's  India," 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xli 

seemed  to  possess  him.  Though  all  his  furloughs 
were  undertaken  for  the  restoration  of  his  health, 
impaired  not  only  by  fever  but  later  by  other  serious 
and  complicated  ailments,  no  labour  seemed  too  hard 
for  him  to  perform  and  no  demands  upon  his  time 
and  strength  too  great  for  him  to  meet.  Often  he 
paid  with  severe  and  racking  pain  for  the  exertion 
he  had  made,  but  the  next  call  found  him  ready,  even 
glad  to  meet  it. 

Such  were  the  evident  force  and  ability  of  the  man 
that  the  most  flattering  offers  were  made  him  with  a 
view  to  detain  him,  if  possible,  in  this  country.  But 
nothing  could  turn  him  from  the  purpose  of  his 
life. 

Honours  were  heaped  upon  him.  In  one  year, 
1878,  three  colleges,  Rutgers,  Western  Eeserve  and 
Union,  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity.  To  these  was  added  that  of  Doctor  of 
Laws,  in  1900,  from  Hope  College  and  from  "Western 
Eeserve  in  1901.  In  1878  he  was  made  president 
of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Church  in 
America,  the  first  foreign  missionary  to  be  accorded 
that  distinction  in  the  history  of  that  Church.  When 
the  Synod  met  the  next  year  he  was  back  in  India, 
returning  by  way  of  Japan  and  China.  His  visits 
to  the  Missions  in  those  countries  brought  great  cheer 
and  encouragement  to  the  workers  and  were  long  re- 
membered with  pleasure  and  gratitude  by  natives 


xlii  A  Biographical  Sketch 

and  foreigners  alike.  In  everything  he  saw  he  mani- 
fested the  keenest  interest  and  to  many  imparted  far 
more  than  he  received. 

In  1881  it  was  thought  wise  for  him  to  spend  part 
of  the  year  in  Australia,  the.  cool  season  there  corre- 
sponding to  the  heated  term  in  India.  A  cordial 
greeting  was  accorded  him  there  and  similar  en- 
thusiasm awakened.  The  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Victoria  received  him  en- 
thusiastically, * '  as  the  representative  of  the  old 
Netherlands  Church,  of  the  oldest  branch  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  America  and  of  the  India 
missionary  work."  He  was  asked  to  deliver  an 
address  on  Missions  in  India  before  the  Assembly 
which  he  did  with  such  effect  that  he  was  earnestly 
besought  to  visit  the  churches  and  presbyteries  in 
the  colony  and  present  the  work  of  India  missions. 
Other  addresses  were  made  under  various  auspices 
and  "  after  each  address,  individuals,  some  of  them 
Presbyterians,  some  Wesleyans,  some  Church  of 
England  and  some  Congregationalists  "  came  to  him 
privately  and  offered  sums  of  money  to  take  back  to 
India  and  invest  in  the  Lord's  work  there.  The  in- 
terest and  the  benevolence  thus  awakened  continued 
for  years  and  were  of  great  assistance,  especially  in 
times  of  financial  stringency,  to  the  Mission  with 
which  he  was  connected. 

Dr.  Chamberlain's  second  furlough  was  signalized 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xliii 

not  only  by  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  union,  already 
mentioned,  but  by  his  successful  endeavour  to  secure 
the  establishment  of  a  theological  seminary  in  con- 
nection with  the  Arcot  Mission,  and  a  liberal  endow- 
ment for  the  same.  By  his  personal  effort  more  than 
^45, 000  were  raised  for  this  purpose  before  he  left  for 
India  in  1887.  Through  his  personal  influence  this 
amount  was  subsequently  and  gradually  increased 
by  bequests  to  nearly  $70,000,  a  sum  sufficient  to 
meet  all  the  expenses  of  the  institution,  including 
the  salary  of  its  missionary  principal.  From  this, 
the  first  endowed  school  of  the  kind  in  India,  are 
sent  out,  year  by  year,  not  only  ministers  but 
thoroughly  equipped  evangelists  and  lay  workers. 

In  the  same  year,  1887,  in  obedience  to  a  tele- 
graphic summons  from  Mr.  Moody,  totally  unex- 
pected, he  made  at  Northfield  one  of  his  most 
comprehensive  and  stirring  addresses  on  "The  Field 
and  Conflict  in  India :  The  Opportunity  of  the 
Ages,"  closing  with  a  threefold  message  which  he 
believed  himself  called  of  God  to  deliver.  To  the 
students  and  young  men  present  he  rang  out  with 
fire  and  energy  "  the  call  for  5,000  volunteers  for  this 
glorious  warfare."  To  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  he  appealed 
for  the  extension  of  its  methods  and  work  to  India, 
to  aid  in  developing  and  training  "the  life,  the 
energy,  the  spiritual  earnestness  for  the  work  of 
saving  other  souls"  of  the  more  than  600,000  young 


xliv  A  Biographical  Sketch 

converts  who  needed  such  training.  His  third  and 
last  appeal  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Moody  himself. 
Referring  to  the  thousands  of  graduates  from  the 
universities  every  year ;  hundreds  and  thousands 
from  other  schools  ; — he  said,  "  They  can  be  reached 
through  the  English  language.  They  are  scattered 
all  through  India,  three  millions  strong.  Some  have 
read  the  Bible.  All  these  have  lost  their  faith  in 
Hinduism  or  their  faith  is  wavering."  Turning  to 
Mr.  Moody  he  said,  "Dwight  L.  Moody,  do  you 
not  hear  Jehovah's  clarion  call  to  give  at  least  one 
winter  of  royal  service  to  India's  redemption  t "  In 
burning  words  he  enforced  the  appeal.  The  address 
made  a  profound  impression,  on  none  more  than  on 
Mr.  Moody  himself,  though  after  solemn  deliberation 
it  was  'deemed  neither  wise  nor  possible  for  him  to 
accept  the  invitation  as  he  was  disposed  to  do. 

In  1900  he  was  chosen  to  represent  the  large  body 
of  missionaries  present  at  the  Ecumenical  Conference 
in  New  York,  and  the  still  larger  number  of  those  on 
the  field.  In  earnest  tones,  which  those  who  heard 
him  will  never  forget,  he  pled  for  anew  "impetus 
of  enthusiasm,"  for  "help  in  tactics  and  strategy," 
for  "more  of  unity,  comity  and  cooperation,"  for  a 
recognition  and  declaration  by  "  the  world- wide 
Church  in  council,"  "that  this  conquest  of  the 
world  for  Christ  is  the  fundamental  object  of  the 
Church's  existence"  and  that  "only  to  the  extent  in 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xlv 

which  she  fulfills  this  God-appointed  destiny  will 
she  be  blessed  of  God." 

In  July  of  the  same  year  he  addressed  the  students 
at  Northfield,  out  of  his  deep  conviction  and  large 
experience,  on  "The  Call  to  and  Preparation  for 
Missionary  "Work." 

Before  the  year  closed  he  was  again  in  India  and 
giving  himself  to  his  chosen  and  allotted  work  chiefly 
on  his  Telugu  Bible  Dictionary,  but  also  in  the  care 
and  oversight  of  the  Church  and  work  at  Coouoor. 
Fearful  dissensions  rent  the  church,  but  by  unwearied 
patience,  unstinted  effort  and  counsel,  love  and 
prayer,  he  had  the  great  joy  at  last  of  seeing  the  strife 
allayed,  most  of  those  who  had  left  restored  in  peni- 
tence to  the  flock  and  fold  they  had  forsaken  and  the 
church  entered  on  a  career  of  renewed  prosperity. 

Though  largely  withdrawn  from  the  more  active 
labours  of  the  Mission,  it  was  a  satisfaction  to  be  able 
still  to  serve  it.  Such  was  the  confidence  reposed  in 
him  by  his  brethren  and  the  desire  to  honour  him 
and  also  to  avail  themselves  of  his  wise  counsel,  ex- 
perience and  administrative  ability  and  tact  that 
numerous  offices  were  crowded  upon  him.  All  these 
he  cheerfully  bore  and  performed  with  his  accustomed 
thoroughness  and  fidelity,  though  often  at  the  cost  of 
great  suffering  and  pain. 

In  May,  1902,  he  was  stricken  by  paralysis.  For 
weeks,  lengthening  into  months,  his  life  hung  in  the 


xlvi  A  Biographical  Sketch 

balance.  But  gradually,  to  the  surprise  of  all  his 
friends  and  his  physicians  as  well,  strength  gradually 
returned  and  he  was  able  to  take  up  again  his  literary 
work.  He  fondly  and  gratefully  believed  that  God 
had  raised  him  up  that  he  might  complete  the  work 
on  which  he  was  engaged.  That  was  to  be  his  last 
great  gift  to  his  beloved  Telugus. 

One  volume,  about  one-fourth,  was  finished  and 
carried  through  the  press  in  1906.  The  rest  awaits 
completion  by  another  hand.  In  October  of  last  year, 
1907,  he  was  compelled  to  lay  aside  all  work  of  every 
sort  By  the  advice  of  physicians  he  left  his  station 
on  the  hills  and  came  down  to  Vellore,  where  for 
several  weeks  he  was  under  the  care  of  physicians 
who  loved  him.  His  symptoms  baffled  them  and  he 
made  little  or  no  progress  towards  recovery.  Finally 
his  desire  to  return  to  the  home  at  Madanapalle  which 
he  had  himself  reared  became  so  strong  that  the  doc- 
tors yielded  and  he  was  tenderly  borne  thither. 
There  he  lingered  for  some  weeks,  watched  over  and 
tended  with  anxious  solicitude  and  loving  care.  And 
there,  on  March  2,  1908,  surrounded  by  some  of  those 
whom  he  loved  best  on  earth,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
Telugu  people  for  whom  his  life  was  given,  he  passed 
away  into  the  presence  of  the  Master  whose  service 
was  his  delight. 

Thus  by  a  series  of  gracious  providences  was  it 
made  possible  for  the  long-cherished  and  often  ex- 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xlvii 

pressed  desire  of  his  heart  to  be  gratified.  "It  has 
been  my  earnest  prayer  for  years,"  he  wrote  while  in 
this  country  in  1900,  on  hearing  of  the  death  of  one 
of  his  associates  in  India,  Dr.  John  Scudder,  "that  I 
may  be  summoned  up  from  the  forefront  and  my  mor- 
tal remains  laid  to  rest  among  '  my  people '  at  Madan- 
apalle."  And  as  he  loved  the  people,  so  they  loved 
him.  All  castes,  classes  and  religions  united  in  "a 
wonderful  though  not  surprising  exhibition  of  love 
and  sorrow,"  when  his  death  was  known.  The  fu- 
neral services  were  largely  conducted  in  the  Telugu 
tongue  and  he  was  followed  to  the  grave  by  a  large 
concourse  of  people,  native  Christians,  Hindus  and 
Europeans,  amidst  the  singing  of  the  beautiful  Telugu 
hymns,  many  of  which  he  had  himself  composed.  Five 
of  his  junior  colleagues  laid  him  to  rest  on  the  very 
spot  where  he  had  pitched  his  tent  when  he  first  came 
to  Madanapalle  forty-five  years  before. 

The  Man. — Think  what  we  may  of  his  abundant 
labours,  his  great  achievements  and  the  great  benefits 
he  conferred  upon  India  and  the  Church  of  Christ 
which  it  has  been  the  aim  of  this  chapter  briefly  to  set 
forth,  it  remains  true  that  the  highest  service  he 
rendered  was,  after  all,  in  being  what  he  was.  There 
was  a  marvellous  versatility,  a  many  sidedness  about 
him.  Totally  separate  from  and  yet  finely  blended 
with  his  character  and  ability  as  preacher,  doctor, 


xlviii  A  Biographical  Sketch 

scholar,  were  other  qualities,  fitted  to  other  lines  of 
activity,  in  any  one  of  which  he  might  have  attained  to 
eminence.  Few  of  his  many  friends,  probably,  knew 
that  he  was  an  inventor,  constructor  and  mechanical 
genius  of  no  mean  order.  That  he  was  also  a  diplo- 
matist is  shown  in  the  wisdom  to  conceive  and  out- 
line far-reaching  and  comprehensive  policies  which 
he  possessed,  together  with  the  capacity  to  bring  into 
harmony  those  of  opposing  views  and  to  meet  diffi- 
culties and  perplexing  problems  with  practical  wis- 
dom, sagacity  and  common  sense.  This  made  him  a 
most  valuable  counsellor  to  his  missionary  brethren 
and  to  the  Board  at  home.  "Withal,  he  had  some- 
thing of  the  politician,  using  that  much  abused  word 
in  its  best  sense.  He  knew  how  to  secure  the  objects 
on  which  his  heart  was  set,  without  antagonizing  others 
and  by  expedients  which  occurred  to  him  alone. 
And  so,  all  these  qualities  combined  to  make  him  the 
sagacious,  far-sighted,  broad-minded,  constructive 
missionary  statesman  he  proved  to  be. 

Beyond  and  above  his  natural  talents,  conspicuous 
in  many  and  various  ways,  there  was  a  nobility  of 
nature,  mingled  with  a  true  simplicity  which  im- 
pressed and  captivated  those  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.  His  was  a  soul  above  all  meanness  of 
thought  or  speech  or  deed.  The  law  of  kindness  was 
in  his  lips  because  love  to  all  men  reigned  in  his 
heart,  and  he  would  speak  evil  of  no  man.  Brave  to 


A  Biographical  Sketch  xlix 

a  fault,  he  shrank  from  no  danger,  hardship  or  sacri- 
fice in  fulfilling  his  ministry  of  preaching  and  heal- 
ing. Self-poised  and  self-possessed,  but  not  self- 
centred  or  self-assertive,  his  balance  was  not  easily 
disturbed.  Amid  all  the  applause  that  followed  him 
and  the  flattering  offers  made  him,  none  of  those 
things  moved  him  to  forsake  his  purpose  to  spend 
his  life  for  Christ  and  India.  He  preserved  the  even 
balance  of  his  mind  and  the  even  tenor  of  his  way. 

Of  unfailing  cheerfulness,  he  accepted  the  events 
of  life  as  the  ordering  of  his  heavenly  Father,  believ- 
ing always  with  Browning,  whatever  the  seeming,  that 

"  God's  in  His  heaven 
All's  right  with  the  world," 

and  saying  in  effect,  if  not  with  his  lips, 

' '  I  worship  Thee,  sweet  Will  of  God 
And  all  Thy  ways  adore ; 
And  every  day  I  live  I  seem 
To  love  Thee  more  and  more." 

His  social  qualities  multitudes  attest.  He  was  a 
most  delightful  companion  and  inmate  of  the  many 
homes  to  which  he  found  an  entrance.  Happy  him- 
self, it  seemed  his  mission  to  make  others  happy  too. 
A  breeze  of  new  life  came  in  with  him.  Flashes  of 
kindly  and  often  humorous  light  illumined  his  con- 
versation. He  became  quite  naturally  the  delightful 
centre  of  every  social  and  family  circle  of  which  he 
happened  to  form  a  part. 


1  A  Biographical  Sketch 

Perhaps  no  trait  was  more  characteristic  of  him 
than  his  abounding  joy.  Joy  in  his  work  and  in  its 
fruits.  Joy  in  his  associations  and  fellowships.  Joy 
in  his  plans  and  hopes,  and  joy  in  God  even  when 
those  plans  and  hopes  seemed  frustrated  and  disap- 
pointed. If,  in  the  last  few  months  of  life  his  joy 
was  clouded  and  the  brightness  of  his  spirit  dimmed, 
he  yet  endured  with  meek  submission  until  the  long- 
expected  summons  came  and  he  entered  into  the  un- 
clouded joy  of  the  Lord  whom  he  had  so  long  and 
faithfully  loved  and  served.  In  India,  in  America 
and  throughout  the  world,  his  memory  is  precious 
and  it  will  abide. 

The  chapters  of  this  book,  which  were  in  press 
when  the  tidings  of  his  departure  came,  are  the  ex- 
pansion of  his  statement,  never  more  true  than  now, 
as  to  "The  Outlook  in  India,"  made  at  the  Ecumen- 
ical Conference  of  1900,  in  New  York.  And  this 
brief  sketch  may  well  close,  as  he,  no  doubt,  would 
have  it,  with  his  final  appeal  at  the  end  of  that  ad- 
dress,— his  last  strong  plea  "for  Christ  and  India"  : 
"O  Church  of  the  living  God,  awake !  Fill  up  the 
mission  treasuries  to  the  overflow.  Let  a  shout  go 
forth  that  shall  say  '  March  onward  !  in  the  name  of 
the  King  of  Kings  !  March  on  and  conquer  that  land 
for  Christ ! '  Let  that  word  come,  and  within  the 
lives  of  some  sitting  here  will  we  show  you  all  India 
bowing  low  at  the  feet  of  our  Jesus." 


P  r  e  f  a  c  e 

THIS  volume  consists  of  addresses,  sketches 
and  stories,  some  of  which  have  appeared 
in  different  periodicals  and  independently, 
and  all  gathering  about  the  theme : — The  Eeligions 
of  the  Orient :    Can  and  will  they  be  supplanted  ? 
They  constitute  a  progressive  treatment  of  this  theme, 
illustrating  the  process,  the  obstacles,  the  encourage- 
ments and  the  signs  of  victory  in  the  attempt  to  sup- 
plant the  Vedas  with  the  Bible,  and  Hinduism  by 
Christianity  throughout  the  Land  of  the  Vedas. 

It  is  the  author's  supreme  desire  and  prayer,  in  the 
preparation  of  this  volume,  that  it  may  be  used  of 
God  in  inciting,  among  those  who  read  it,  many 
young  men  and  women  to  offers  of  personal  service 
at  the  front ;  many  laymen  to  the  fuller  consecration 
of  their  property ;  and  all  loyal  Christians  to  an 
earnest  service  of  intercessory  prayer  for  the  speedy 
and  complete  establishment,  throughout  the  whole  of 
India,  of  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

JACOB  CHAMBERLAIN. 

Coonoor,  India. 


THE  TWELVE  BRAHMAN  PILGRIMS:  A  HINDU 
STORY  WITH  A  POINT 

MANY  years  ago  I  found  in  a  very  old 
Tamil    book    a    story    which   pointedly 
teaches  a  lesson  of  which  I  wish  here  to 
speak. 

The  story  was  written  by  a  Hindu,  centuries  before 
the  English  entered  India,  before  the  art  of  printing 
was  known  there,  and  before  paper,  pens  and  ink 
were  used  to  any  extent.  It  was  written  in  the  old- 
style  Hindu  book,  made  of  the  green  leaves  of  the 
palm  tree,  the  leaves  being  all  cut  in  pieces  one  inch 
and  a  half  wide,  and  a  span  and  a  half  long,  with 
a  round  hole  in  each  one  near  each  end,  and  all  strung 
on  a  double  string,  so  that  when  one  leaf  was  pulled 
up  it  could  be  read  on  both  sides  and  then  laid  over 
and  the  next  one  pulled  up  and  read.  The  writing 
was  done  with  a  sharp  iron  stylus,  pressed  into  the 
soft  green  surface  of  the  leaf,  and  the  iron  combining 
with  the  acid  of  the  green  leaf,  when  it  dried,  made  a 
blackish  mark  like  ink,  which  being  graved  in  as 
well  as  written,  would  last  for  centuries,  and  could 
never  be  erased  or  obliterated  in  any  way.  The  story 

3 


4  The  Twelve  Brahman  Pilgrims 

has  not  yet  lost  any  of  its  point.  It  was  told  to  illus- 
trate the  traditional  failing  of  the  Brahinans,  viz. : 
their  being  completely  upset  by  any  sudden  emer- 
gency and  unable  to  extricate  themselves  therefrom  ; 
but  it  teaches  another  lesson"  as  well.  The  story  runs 
as  follows :  — 

In  the  olden  days,  twelve  holy  Brahmans  set  out 
from  a  town  near  Cape  Comorin,  the  southern  point 
of  India,  on  a  pilgrimage  for  the  expiation  for  their 
sins,  all  the  way  north  to  Benares,  the  holy  city  on 
the  Ganges,  by  bathing  in  which  as  well  as  by  the 
toil  of  the  long  pilgrimage  they  expected  to  secure 
the  desired  expiation  of  sin. 

It  was,  in  those  days,  a  six  months'  journey  on  foot 
through  (to  them)  unknown  lands,  of  people  speak- 
ing different  languages,  with  unbridged  rivers  to 
cross,  and  dense  jungles  to  penetrate. 

Taking  with  them  their  small  brass  cooking-pots, 
tied  by  cords  hung  over  their  shoulders,  one  in  front 
and  one  behind,  purchasing  their  food  supplies  each 
day  as  they  passed  bazaars  or  villages,  cooking  their 
food  themselves  as  each  night  they  camped  under  a 
tree,  or  in  some  little  rest-house  by  the  way,  they 
had  pursued  their  journey  a  month  when  they  came 
to  one  of  India's  broad  sandy  rivers,  a  furlong  broad, 
and  without  a  foot  of  water  flowing  over  its  flat  sandy 
bed. 

Daintily  holding  up  their  pilgrim  skirts  they  had 


A  Hindu  Story  With  a  Point  5 

crossed  half  its  width  when  a  wild  rushing  surf- wave 
sound  told  their  experienced  ears  that  drenching 
rains  in  the  Western  mountains  had  sent  down  a  tor- 
rential flood  in  this  stagnant  river,  which,  rolling 
down  like  a  tidal  wave  nearly  six  feet  high,  would 
whelm  under  any  man  or  beast  found  in  the  river. 
Too  late  quite  to  reach  the  shore  before  the  rolling 
wave  struck  them,  they  were  swept  down  by  the 
flood.  Desperately  struggling,  they  however  reached 
the  farther  shore,  one  here,  one  there,  some  a  fur- 
loiig  down  the  stream. 

With  great  difficulty  climbing  the  bank,  those 
carried  farthest  down  went  up-stream,  those  above 
down-stream,  searching  for  their  comrades. 

When  assembled,  the  question  was  "Are  we  all 
saved?"  let  us  see;  "here  is  Narayana  of  Kotta- 
palle."  "  Yes,  I  am  here,  through  Vishnu's  favour," 
"and  Eamaya  of  Buruzur."  "Here,  praise  the 
deity, "  "  and  Gopal  of  Kalambur. "  "  Yes,  I  caught 
the  branch  of  a  tree  as  I  was  being  swept  down  and 
pulled  myself  out,  praise  to  Hari."  "Darmarazu 
of  Vayalpad."  "  Yes,  I  was  thrown  on  a  rock  near 
the  edge  and  sprang  ashore,"  "Hari  Jayam,"  and  so 
to  each  name  called  a  response  was  given.  Then 
Papaya  said  :  "well,  step  out  there  in  a  line  and  I 
will  count  and  see  if  all  twelve  of  us  are  here." 
They  formed  themselves  into  a  semi-circle  while 
Papaya  counted  them;  "Ondru,  rendu,  mundru, 


6  The  Twelve  Brahman  Pilgrims 

nalu,  ainthu,  aru,  e"ru,  6ttu,  onpathu,  pattu,  pathi- 
nondru"  (one,  two,  three,  four,  five,  six,  seven,  eight, 
nine,  ten,  eleven)  !  "Alas,  there  are  but  eleven  of  us, 
and  one  of  us  must  be  drowned  ! " 

"Well,  who  is  it!  Narayana  is  here,  and  Gopal 
and  Darmarazu,  and  Papaya  and  Sitappa,  and 
Bangaswami  and  Kishtappa,  and  so  on,  each  seems  to 
answer  to  his  name !  Who  can  it  be  that  is  drowned  ? ' ' 
"  Here,  let  me  count,"  said  Lakshmana,  "stand  out 
there  in  a  row,"  "ondru,  rendu,  mundru,  nalu, 
ainthu,  aru,  e"ru,  6ttu,  onpathu,  pathu,  pathinondru ! 
only  eleven,  alas,  one  of  us  is  dead;  who  can 
it  be?" 

Darmarazu  stepped  out,  saying,  "wait,  let  me 
count,"  and  count  he  did,  with  the  same  result,  and 
dumbfounded  that  evidently  one  of  them  was  dead 
and  they  could  not  find  out  who,  they  agreed  to  refer 
the  matter  to  an  old  hermit  woman  whose  little  house 
they  discovered  on  the  bank  of  the  river.  So  all  ap- 
proached her. 

Papaya,  as  spokesman,  told  her  of  their  mishap, 
which  she  had  herself  partly  seen  from  the  door  of 
her  hut,  and,  explaining  their  perplexity,  that  no 
name  was  called  but  some  one  would  answer  to  it, 
but  that  each  time  they  counted  they  could  make 
only  eleven,  while  they  were  positively  certain  that 
twelve  of  them  had  been  travelling  together  for  a 
month,  and  that  all  twelve  had  started  together  to 


A  Hindu  Story  With  a  Point  7 

cross  the  river  only  an  hour  before,  and  had  been 
whelmed  under  by  that  great  freshet  wave  that  she 
had  seen,  and  asked  her  if  she  could  help  them  out 
of  their  difficulty. 

"Well,"  said  she,  "  stand  out  there  in  a  row  and 
let  me  count  you  ! "  So  she  counted,  u  Ondru,  rendu, 
muiidru,  nalu,  ainthu,  aru,  6ru,  6ttu,  onpathu,  pathu, 
pathinondru,  panirendu.  Why,  there  are  twelve  of 
you.  It  is  all  right,"  said  she. 

"  Is  that  so  !  Then  those  fellows  made  a  mistake 
in  counting.  Here,  I'll  count  once  more,"  said  Srini- 
vasa,  "stand  out  there  again.  Oudru,  rendu,  mun- 
dru,  nalu,  ainthu,  aru,  6ru,  ettu,  onpathu,  pattu, 
pathinondru !  no,  there  are  only  eleven  after  all  ! 
Old  woman,  you  do  not  know  how  to  count,  one  of  us 
is  drowned  after  all." 

"Well,"  said  she,  "I'll  prove  it  to  you,"  and, 
placing  what  might  be  called  a  long  mud  pie  on  an 
earthern  platform  that  was  by  the  side  of  her  door, 
she  made  them  pass  one  by  one,  each  one,  as  he 
passed,  with  his  nose  making  an  imprint  in  the  soft 
mud.  Then  they  were  all  made  to  stand  in  front 
and  count  the  "  nose  holes"  which  indisputably  were 
twelve,  and  if  there  were  twelve  nose  holes  there  must 
be  twelve  noses,  as  they  agreed  that  so  closely  watched 
as  they  were  no  one  could  have  put  his  nose  down 
twice,  and  if  there  were  twelve  noses  then  there  un- 
questionably must  be  twelve  Brahmans,  and  they  re- 


8  The  Twelve  Brahman  Pilgrims 

joiced  that  after  all  none  of  them  was  dead.  Each 
one  had  neglected  to  count  himself! 

Do  not  we,  fellow  Christians,  too  often  fall  into  this 
very  Brahman  dullness,  and,  in  God's  work,  each  fail 
to  count  himself  and  herself,  If  there  is  real  work  to 
be  done  "for  Christ  and  the  Church,"  are  we  not 
prone  diligently  and  repeatedly  to  count  all  the 
others,  and  perhaps  unconsciously  neglect  to  count  our- 
selves ?" 

Has  not  the  Church  of  God  been  continually  mak- 
ing and  remaking  that  same  blunder, — especially  with 
relation  to  foreign  missionary  work,  each  one  neg- 
lecting to  count  himself,  herself,  one  among  the  neces- 
sary forces  for  the  conquest  of  the  world  for  Christ  f 
The  imperative  order  of  the  ascending  Christ  to  each 
believer  was  "  Go  (self  or  proxy).  Go,  evangelize  all 
nations."  How  dare  any  one,  man,  woman,  or  child, 
pray,  "Thy  kingdom  come,"  unless  each  takes  hold 
to  help  to  make  it  come  ? 

"Fly  abroad,  thou  mighty  Gospel,"  we  often 
vociferously  sing  in  missionary  meetings.  Father, 
mother,  brother,  sister,  son,  daughter  !  Dare  not 
once  more  to  sing  that  hymn  until  you  count  yourself 
one  to  help  it  to  "fly  abroad." 

Not  all  can  personally  go.  Some  must  do  their 
work  by  proxy,  but  we  must  be  sure  whether  it  is  self 
or  proxy  that  God  calls  in  our  case,  and  see  that  each 
one  counts  himself  in  the  list  that  God  designs,  and, 


A  Hindu  Story  With  a  Point  9 

in  response  to  God's  question,  "  Who  will  go  for  us  1 " 
be  ready  honestly  to  say,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me  !  "  or, 
if  God  ordains  us  to  "  stay  by  the  stuff,"  see  to  it  that 
we  well  fulfill  our  duties  as  purveyors  and  inter- 
ceders,  or  God's  withering  blight  may  fall  upon  us. 

The  Student  Volunteers,  five  thousand  strong,  have 
flung  down  the  gauntlet  to  the  churches  of  the  world, 
challenging  those  churches  to  send  them  all  forth  and 
sustain  them  in  the  field.  Sustaining  does  not  mean 
simply  providing  all  the  needed  funds  for  the  work, 
though  it  surely  implies  that ;  but  it  means  holding 
up  the  hands  in  every  way.  One  of  those  most  essen- 
tial ways  of  support  is  by  prayer.  Perhaps  the  great- 
est need  of  the  hour  in  foreign  missions  now  is  the 
enrollment  and  faithful  work  of  "  ten  thousand  in- 
tercessory foreign  missionaries." 

Zechariah's  message  still  comes,  and  comes  with 
ever-increasing  force,  to  every  earnest  missionary  in 
the  field,  "  Not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but  by  My 
spirit,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts"  (Zech.  4  :  6,  E.  V.). 

"We  missionaries  in  the  field  see  and  participate  in 
assaults  made  on  the  strongholds  of  the  enemy  and 
see  victories  almost  won,  but,  for  some  reason  we  can- 
not fathom,  those  strongholds  do  not  fall.  Is  it  not  be- 
cause of  a  lack  of  sufficient  intercessory  prayer  on  the 
part  of  God's  people  at  home  to  secure  the  presence 
of  the  Spirit  which  shall  accomplish  more  than  all 
human  might  and  power  can  attempt  ? 


1O          The  Twelve  Brahman  Pilgrims 

We  in  the  field  see  prominent  non-Christians  visibly 
affected  by  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  and  evidently 
longing  to  have  Jesus  Christ  as  their  personal 
Saviour,  but  so  tied  and  bound  are  they  by  their  per- 
sonal surroundings  that  they  cannot  break  themselves 
loose. 

The  "Intercessory  Foreign  Missionary"  is  needed 
to  help  that  man.  Again  and  again  have  I  seen  in- 
telligent Hindus  just  on  the  border  of  the  kingdom 
and  with  foot  partly  raised  to  step  over,  and  yet  who 
have  never  stepped  over,  who  have  never  entered  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Some  intercessory  missionary 
failed  to  count  himself  one,  and  the  divine  motive 
power  never  was  applied,  and  that  man  went  down 
to  death. 

If  the  Messiah  is  indeed  to"  see  of  the  travail  of  His 
soul  and  be  satisfied,"  each  mission  station  of  all  the 
churches  in  all  lands  should  be  organized  not  only 
with  a  commensurate  force  of  missionary  workers  in 
the  field,  but  it  should  be  furnished  with  an  auxiliary 
force  of  pledged  intercessory  missionary  workers  in 
the  home  churches,  who  will  familiarize  themselves 
each  with  some  foreign  mission  station  of  his  or  her 
own  Church,  with  all  its  interests  and  needs,  and  daily 
plead  for  that  station,  those  missionaries,  those  native 
workers,  those  enquirers,  those  young  Christians,  and 
so,  I  say  it  with  deep  reverence,  compel  God  to  fulfill 
His  promise  and  pour  out  His  Spirit  as  needed  to 


A  Hindu  Story  With  a  Point          ll 

fructify  the   labours  of  the  field  force  of  mission- 
aries. 

Each  intercessory  missionary  should  choose  his 
station  and  put  himself  or  herself  in  communica- 
tion with  the  working  missionary,  and  so  pray  intelli- 
gently each  and  every  day,  and  then  the  fruit  will  come. 
This  is  what  we  field  missionaries  now  most  need. 

An  old  time  believer  in  Babylon  once  said  :  "If  I 
forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem,  let  my  right  hand  forget 
her  cunning. ' '  He  counted  himself  every  time.  Fel- 
low Christian,  do  not  be  caught  training  in  the  com- 
pany of  the  twelve  dazed  Brahman  pilgrims  ! 

Whenever  you  see  something  at  home  or  abroad  to 
be  done  "for  Christ  and  the  Church,"  do  not  neglect 
to  count  yourself  one. 

King  Nebuchadnezzar,  after  his  seven  years'  dis- 
cipline by  Jehovah,  as  forewarned  by  the  prophet 
Daniel,  issued  a  royal  proclamation  "  unto  all  the 
peoples,  nations,  and  languages  that  dwell  in  all  the 
earth,"  in  which  he  proclaimed  concerning  Daniel's 
God,  "  His  kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdom,  and 
His  dominion  is  from  generation  to  generation." 

The  exile,  John,  the  apostle,  on  the  Isle  of  Pat- 
mos,  had  his  mind  so  transported  into  the  future  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  that  he  saw,  as  an  accomplished  fact, 
that  "the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and  of  His  Christ,  and  He 
shall  reign  forever  and  ever." 


12          The  Twelve  Brahman  Pilgrims 

"We  now  propose  to  ask,  u  Is  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
coming  in  India?  and  When!  and  How!"  To  the 
elucidation  of  this  question  the  succeeding  chapters 
are  devoted. 

. 


n 

THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  ORIENT;  THEIR 
BEAUTIES,  AND  THEIR  FATAL  DEFECTS 

"  Prove  all  things  ;  holdfast  that  which  is  good  "(Paul}. 

THE  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  re- 
ligion of  Jesus,  which  differentiates  it  from 
all  the  other  religions  in  the  world,  is  found 
in  that  unique  personality  unveiled  to  us  in  the  declara- 
tions of  Holy  "Writ  that  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that 
He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlast- 
ing life"  ;  "He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions 
,  .  .  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon 
Him,  and  with  His  stripes  we  are  healed"  ;  "For 
we  have  not  an  High  Priest  which  cannot  be  touched 
with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities ;  but  was  in  all 
points  tempted  like  as  we  are ;  yet,  without  sin  "  ; 
and,  "  Being  made  perfect,  He  became  the  author  of 
eternal  salvation  unto  all  them  that  obey  Him." 

This  is  the  key  ;  this  Son  of  God  bearing  our  sin  ; 
this  great  High  Priest  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our 
infirmities  ;  this  God-man  stretching  His  hand  of  love 
far  down  to  us,  to  help  us  up.  It  is  this  that  causes 


14  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

Christianity  to  stand  out,  among  the  world's  religions, 
alone  without  a  peer. 

The  great  religions  of  the  world  do  agree  in  much  : 
They  all  teach,  more  or  less  distinctly,  that  the  God- 
head is  one,  and  that  He.  is  holy,  good,  and  pure. 
That  man  is  in  a  state  of  sin,  not  at  peace  with  Holy 
God,  and  that  man  is  in  dire  need  of  purity  and  holi- 
ness ;  that  there  can  be  no  peace,  no  harmony,  be- 
tween sinful  man  and  Holy  God  until  and  unless  sin 
is  in  some  way  expiated,  or  expurgated;  that  this 
getting  rid  of  sin  and  sin's  consequences,  this  search 
for  purity  and  holiness,  this  obtaining  of  conformity 
with  God,  is  the  greatest  and  most  worthy  end  of 
man's  existence.  But  not  one  of  the  religions  of  the 
world  save  Christianity,  the  religion  of  Jesus,  fur- 
nishes any  help  outside  of  ourselves  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  stupendous  task. 

Call  the  roll  of  the  famed  religions  of  the  Orient, 
over  some  of  which  it  is,  in  certain  circles,  now  the 
fashion  to  go  into  ecstasies,  vaunting  them  as  the 
equals,  or  promising  rivals,  of  Christianity ;  call  the 
roll,  and  see  what  is  the  highest  and  noblest  they  can 
teach  us. 

The  Zend  Avesta  of  the  Parsis,  dating  back  from  al- 
most prehistoric  times,  bids  its  adherents  believe  in 
Ormuzd,  the  spirit  of  good,  and  shun  the  machina- 
tions of  Ahriman,  the  spirit  of  evil,  and  bids  them 
prove  their  belief,  not  by  words,  but  by  actions. 


A  TEMPLE  GOPURAM,  OR  GATEWAY  AND  TOWER 

Through  which  worshippers  pass  into  an  enclosed  quadrangle,  within 
which  is  the  idols  and  sacred  shrine 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     15 

"Avoiding,"  (I  quote  from  its  text)  "avoiding  all 
arrogance  and  envy,  all  lying  and  slander,  all  un- 
chastity,  magic,  and  vice  of  any  kind."  "  Keep  thy- 
self pure,"  both  body  and  soul,  is  its  Christlike  in- 
junction. But  for  the  expulsion  of  the  evil  thoughts 
and  passions  which  have  entered  the  heart,  and  for 
the  eradication  of  our  sinful  desires,  it  gives  no  other 
help  than  open  confession  to  a  priest  of  the  sins  com- 
mitted and  the  evil  desires  entertained,  with  the 
proper  fulfillment  of  such  penances  as  he  enjoins. 
"Thyself  must  expiate  thine  own  sins,"  is  the  best 
cheer  it  can  give  the  sin-burdened  soul. 

Confucius,  born  in  the  Province  of  Shantung, 
China  (551  B.  c.),  was  the  founder  of  a  system  which 
still  controls  the  lives  and  actions  of  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  the  human  race.  In  the  scriptures  which 
he  left,  and  which,  after  two  and  a  half  millenniums, 
are  still  the  guide  of  millions  of  Chinamen,  one  can 
find  the  most  beautiful  moral  maxims ;  the  choicest 
exhortations  to  purity  and  nobleness  of  life,  passages 
which  remind  one  of  the  sublime  precepts  of  Moses, 
or  of  the  glowing  exhortations  of  Paul. 

But,  in  seeking  to  attain  this  excellence,  Confucius 
gave  his  disciples  no  hope  of  any  superhuman  aid ; 
indeed,  he  distinctly  taught,  "to  give  one's  self 
earnestly  to  the  duties  due  to  men,  and,  while  re- 
specting spiritual  beings,  to  keep  aloof  from  them ; 
this  may  be  called  wisdom. ' '  One  must  aim  at  purity 


16  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

and  holiness  and  excellence  but  must  rely  solely  on 
his  own  unaided  efforts  to  attain  thereto.  Hopeless 
task  for  sin-fettered  man  ! 

Five  years  before  Confucius,  or  556  B.  o.,  came 
Gautama  (afterwards  known  as  Sakya  Muni,  or  The 
Buddha),  who  was  born  near  Benares,  India. 

The  son  of  the  king  of  Kapilavastu,  delicately 
nourished  and  educated  by  Brahman  preceptors, 
early  married  to  the  daughter  of  an  adjacent  monarch, 
he  was  destined  to  succeed  to  his  father's  throne  and 
kingdom.  But,  seeing  old  age  and  decrepitude,  sick- 
ness and  death,  all  around  him,  and  sadly  and  con- 
tinually meditating  on  these,  on  change,  decay,  and 
dissolution,  at  twenty-nine  years  of  age  he  left  court 
and  wife  and  kingly  station  and  repaired  to  the  for- 
ests, to  live  the  life  of  an  ascetic.  For  six  years,  ac- 
companied by  five  disciples,  he  lived  so  austerely 
that  he  was  wasted  to  a  shadow.  At  last  he  an- 
nounced that  his  desires  were  accomplished ;  that  he 
had  seen  beatific  visions ;  that  all  heavenly  knowledge 
had  been  revealed  to  him.  From  that  time  he  as- 
sumed the  title  of  "The  Buddha,"  that  is,  The  one 
who  knows,  the  enlightened  one ;  and  began  to  pro- 
mulgate the  system  known  as  "Buddhism,"  which 
gained  acceptance  for  a  time  over  all  India,  and, 
propagated  by  its  missionaries,  swept  over  Burmah, 
Siam,  Thibet,  and  much  of  China,  and  on  to 
Japan. 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     17 

The  scriptures  compiled  by  Buddha's  disciples, 
"The  Tripitaka,"  in  spite  of  their  false  conception 
of  human  existence,  and  of  the  divine  nature,  do  con- 
tain many  true  and  noble  sentiments  ;  many  choice 
maxims ;  many  high  aspirations ;  many  ennobling 
exhortations  to  uprightness  and  purity  of  life. 

Five  of  Buddha's  ten  commandments  might  have 
been  taken  from  the  Bible  ;  they  read  :  1.  Do  not 
kill.  2.  Do  not  steal.  3.  Do  not  commit  adultery. 
4.  Do  not  lie.  5.  Do  not  become  intoxicated. 

In  the  Buddhist  Scriptures,  men  are  exhorted  to 
kindness  and  benevolence,  and  to  the  subduing  of 
all  passions  and  desires.  And  to  what  help  are  we 
pointed  for  the  attainment  of  what  is  termed  ' '  The 
Perfect  Way"?  Buddha  gives  us  his  "Eight  in- 
fallible steps  "  for  its  consummation.  They  are  : 


1.  Eight  belief,  or  the  correct  faith. 

2.  Eight  judgment,  or  a  wise  application  of  that 
faith  to  life. 

3.  Eight  utterance,  or  perfect  truth  in  all  we  say 
or  do. 

4.  Eight  motives,  or  proposing  always  proper  end 
and  aim. 

5.  Eight  occupation  in  outward  life  not  involv- 
ing sin. 

6.  Eight    obedience,    or    faithful  observance  of 
known  duty. 

7.  Eight  memory,  or  proper  recollection  of  past 
conduct. 

8.  Eight  meditation,  or  keeping  the  mind  fixed 
on  permanent  truth. 


i8  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

Notably  all  is  to  be  done  by  the  disciple  himself. 
There  is  no  pointing  to  aid  from  without  himself. 
There  is  no  hint  that  there  is  a  benevolent  Divine 
Power  ready,  if  we  seek  it,  to  work  in  us  and  for  us. 
"Work,  mortify  the  body  ;  crucify  the  desires;  so 
shalt  thou  attain  to  thy  supremest  good,  Nirvana  or 
Annihilation. "  This  is  Buddhism's  creed  of  despair. 

Older  than  all  these  are  the  Vedas  of  the  Hindus. 
The  oldest,  the  Eig  Veda,  dating  from  near  the  time 
of  Moses,  in  the  upper  table-land  of  Central  Asia, 
before  all  Noachian  tradition  had  been  lost,  before 
man  had  wandered  so  far  away  from  God,  contains, 
in  the  main,  true  ideas  of  God,  of  man,  of  sin,  of 
sacrifice. 

In  the  Eig  V6da  (Book  X  :  121)  we  find  this  de- 
scription of  and  adoration  of  God,  as  the  Creator, 
Upholder,  and  Controller  of  all  (I  quote  the  trans- 
lation of  Max  Muller)  : 

"  In  the  beginning  there  arose  the  Golden  Child ; 
He  was  the  one  born  Lord  of  all  that  is ; 
He  stablished  the  earth  and  the  sky ; 
Who  is  the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? 

"  He  who  gives  life,  He  who  gives  strength, 
Whose  command  all  the  bright  gods  revere ; 
Whose  shadow  is  immortality,  whose  shadow  is  death ; 
Who  is  the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice? 

"  He  through  whom  the  sky  is  bright  and  the  earth  firm  ; 
He  through  whom  the  heaven  was  stablished,  nay,  the  high- 
est heaven ; 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     19 

He  who  measures  out  the  light  in  the  air; 

Who  is  the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? 

" May  He  not  destroy  us,  He,  the  Creator  of  the  earth; 
He  the  righteous,  who  created  the  heaven ; 
He  also  created  the  bright  and  mighty  waters ; 
Who  is  the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice?  " 

In  the  hymns  to  Him  personified  as  Indra  (Big 
Veda,  1 :  53)  we  find  an  acknowledgment  of  Him  as 
the  Bountiful  Benefactor,  with  a  prayer  to  Him  for 
the  bestowment  of  good. 

In  the  Atharva  (Veda,  IV :  16)  the  omniscience 
of  God,  personified  as  Varuna,  is  thus  set  forth  : 

"  The  great  Lord  of  these  worlds  sees  as  if  He  were  near ; 
If  a  man  thinks  he  is  walking  by  stealth,  the  gods  know  it  all. 
If  a  man  stands,  or  walks  or  hides, 
If  he  goes  to  lie  down  or  get  up 
What  two  people,  sitting  together,  whisper, 
Bong  Varuna  knows  it ;  He  is  there  as  the  third." 

His  omnipresence,  His  personal  interest  in,  and 
governance  of  His  people  is  thus  set  forth  in  Eig 
Veda,  1 :  25  : 

"  He,  the  upholder  of  order,  Varuna, 
Sits  down  among  His  people  ; 
He,  the  wise,  site  there  to  govern." 

In  Eig  V6da  (Vil :  89)  we  find  this  confession  of 
sin,  and  pleading  for  mercy  : 

"  Through  want  of  strength,  Thou  strong  and  bright  God, 
Have  I  gone  wrong  :  have  mercy,  Almighty,  have  mercy." 


2o  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

And  in  Eig  V6da  (VII :  86)  we  have  this  con- 
fession of  original  sin,  as  well  as  actual,  and  this 
petition  of  pardon  for  both : 

Absolve  us  from  the  sins  of  our  fathers, 

And  from  those  we  committed  with  our  own  bodies." 

In  the  Veclas  are  also  indications  of  a  belief  in 
personal  immortality.  For  the  doctrine  of  the  trans- 
migration of  souls,  and  of  Nirvana,  or  final  absorp- 
tion, were  later  conceptions,  superimposed  on  the 
purer  teachings  of  the  Veclas. 

In  Eig  Veda  (IX  :  113)  we  read  : 

"  Where  there  is  eternal  light, 
In  the  world  where  the  sun  is  placed, 
In  that  immortal,  imperishable  world 
Place  me,  O  S6ma  ! 

"Where  there  is  happiness  and  delight, 
Where  joy  and  pleasure  reside, 
Where  the  desires  of  our  desire  are  attained, 
There  make  me  immortal." 

We  find  also  the  indication  of  a  belief  in  a  place 
of  future  punishment. 
In  Eig  V6da  (IV  :  5)  occurs  this  : 

"  Those  who  break  the  commands  of  Varuna, 
And  those  who  speak  lies 
Are  born  for  that  deep  place." 

Thus  clearly  in  the  V6das  do  we  find  God  set  forth 
in  His  true  character  as  Almighty,  all  wise,  all  holy, 
all  true,  all  good,  all  merciful.  We  see  the  rec- 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     21 

ognition  of  man  in  a  state  of  sin  and  alienation  from 
God.  We  see  sin  confessed,  and  pardon  implored. 

No  less  is  this  evident  in  the  writings  of  the  sages 
and  the  poets  of  India,  in  the  different  ages,  and  in 
the  different  languages,  those  now  spoken  by  the 
people.  Aye,  even  though  their  religion  did  de- 
generate into  polytheism  and  idolatry,  for  God  hath 
not  left  Himself  without  a  witness  there. 

V6mana,  a  farmer  poet,  not  a  Brahman,  who  wrote 
about  the  twelfth  century,  in  the  melodious  Telugu 
language,  still  spoken  from  Madras  north  to  Ganjam, 
by  as  many  people  as  are  in  all  New  England  and  the 
Eastern  Middle  States,  sought  from  his  village  home, 
near  Madanapalle,  two  hundred  miles  northwest  of 
Madras,  to  arouse  his  countrymen  to  a  nobler  life 
and  a  purer  conception  of  God  and  holiness. 

In  searching  through  his  Telugu  poems  to  find 
weapons  to  use  in  preaching,  I  have  found  many  gems 
which  I  have  translated  into  English,  using  the  same 
meter  as  the  original,  that  the  swing  and  flow  of  their 
poetry  may  be  seen,  and  a  few  of  them  I  here  re- 
produce. 

V6mana  thus  rebukes  the  universal  idolatry  that 
he  saw  prevailing  around  him  : 

"  Not  in  metal,  not  in  wood  and  not  in  stone,  nor  painted  wall, 

Not  in  picture,  nor  in  image,  nor  in  grosser  forms  of  clay, 
Dwells  the  great  Eternal  Spirit,  dwells  the  author  of  us  all ; 
'Tis  not  thus  He  shows  His  person  to  the  race  of  man 
to-day." 


22  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

In  answer  to  the  question  :     * '  Who  then  is  God  ? ' ' 
V&nana  gives  this  almost  perfect  description  : 


"  You  ask  me  '  who  is  God?    By  what  marks  may  we  know 

Him?' 

He  who  in  all  created  forms  appears  and  rules, 
He  who  of  days  bad  no  beginning  and  no  end, 
He  who  of  all  that  passes  in  each  heart  is  witness, 
For  naught  escapes  His  penetrating  vision, 
He  who  exists  unchanging  through  the  ages, 
He  who  hath  not  one  blemish,  nor  one  shadow, 
That  being  is  our  God.     'Tis  well  if  Him  we  worship." 


As  against  the  idea  that  there  are  certain  holy 
places  where  alone  God  may  be  found,  Ve"mana  brings 
this  protest : 

41  Benares  !  where  the  gods  do  dwell !  you  wildly  shout, 
And  journey  there  with  great  desire  and  toil  and  cost, 
But  is  not  here  the  God  that's  there  ?  If  with  the  heart  you 

seek  Him 
He's  here,  He's  there,  He's  everywhere.    Go  where  you  will 

yon  meet  Him  !  " 

Combating  the  idea  that  religious  observances  and 
sacrifices,  without  purity  of  soul,  can  be  acceptable 
to  God,  Vemana  issues  this  note  of  warning : 

"  The  soul  defiled  with  sin — what  real  worship  pays  it  ? 

The  pot  unclean, — the  cookery,  who  eats  it? 
The  heart  impure,  though  it  essays  devotion, 

Can  deity  receive  it?    Nay,  nay,  be  pure,  O  man." 

Nor  will  desert  fastings,  nor  pilgrimages,  nor 
sacred  bathings,  be  of  any  avail.  V6inana  says: 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     23 

"  'Tis  not  by  roaming  deserts  wild,  nor  gazing  at  the  sky; 
'Tia  not  by  bathing  in  the  stream,  nor  pilgrimage  to  shrine ; 
Bat  thine  own  heart  must  thou  make  pore,  and  then,  and  then 

alone, 
Shalt  thou  see  Him  no  eye  hath  kenned,  shalt  thou  behold  thy 

King." 

Against  their  austerities,  penances,  and  medita- 
tions, unaccompanied  by  any  effort  after  purity  of 
life,  a  poetjwriting  in  the  Kanarese  language  raised 
this  protest : 

"  O  soul,  what  good  can  Ganges  give? 
Can  water  cleanse,  or  thinking  long  on  God, 
"When  still  thy  feet  choose  sin, 
And  merit  springs  not  from  thy  deeds  ? 

"  When  guile  o'erspreads  thy  crooked  path, 
And  inward  sin  kills  holy  zeal, 
Can  prayer  make  clean  thy  soul  ?  or  whips 
Drive  out  the  foulness  from  thy  heart?  " 

The  miserly  spirit  and  selfishness  of  his  day  the 
Telugu  poet  before  quoted,  V^mana,  thus  rebukes  : 

"  The  property  I  make  and  keep  is  all  my  own,  you  say ; 
But  fools  alone  agree  with  you,  and  say  'tis  so. 
O  Man,  the  wealth  thou  giv'st  in  charity  alone  is  thine, 
For  that  alone  will  follow  thee  to  yonder  world.'' 

Gratitude  and  ingratitude  Ve'mana  thus  sets  forth  : 

"  Forgetful  of  all  vile  affections  let  us  be, 
Forgetful  of  each  sharp,  contentious  word, 
Forgetful  of  the  faults  of  those  we  daily  meet, 
But  never  let  us  once  forget  the  good  that's  done  to  us. 


24  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

"The  dog  to  which  we  do  a  kindness  looks  with  love, 
Nor  soon  forgets  the  hand  that  helped  it  in  its  need. 
How  base  the  man  that  shows  not  love,  but  slights 
The  favours  he's  received  from  other  men  in  his  distress." 

The  best  revenge  V6mana  thus  depicts : 

"Though  one  that  be  thy  foe,  and  worthy  be  of  death, 
Fall  in  thy  power,  'tis  well  thou  kill  him  not. 
Just  load  him  down  with  benefits,  and  bid  him  go, 
'Tis  bitterer  than  death  to  him,  and  better  far  for  thee." 

An  old  poet  in  the  Kanarese  language  sings  us  a 
song  which  would  seem  as  though  it  must  have  come 
from  the  Bible,  did  we  not  know  that  it  was  sung 
long  before  Christianity  was  introduced  into  India. 
It  must,  however,  be  the  reecho  of  the  u  Divine 
Oracles,"  that  came  down  by  tradition  through  the 
ages  from  the  time  of  Noah.  In  it  we  see  almost  the 
shadow  of  the  Decalogue  (I  quote  the  translation  of 
Grover  in  his  "  Folk-Songs  of  Southern  India")  : 

"  Oh,  wouldst  thou  know  in  what  consists, 

The  purity  which  keeps  the  soul  ? 
Behold  the  things  the  good  resists ; 
The  works  that  make  the  wounded  whole. 

"  Thy  parents  honour  and  obey  ; 

Release  the  prisoner  from  his  chain ; 
In  heaven's  road  forever  stay ; 

And  think  on  Vishnu's  wondrous  reign. 

"  The  common  woman  hate  and  scorn  ; 

At  neighbour's  head  no  hard  word  send ; 
With  honesty  thy  life  adorn  ; 
Desire  the  things  which  please  thy  friend. 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     25 

"  Examine  oft  thy  inner  self ; 

Deal  justly  in  the  market  seat ; 
Proclaim  the  truth  at  loss  of  pelf, 
And  let  true  wisdom  guide  thy  feet." 

God's  perfections  and  man's  depravity ;  man's 
alienation  from  God,  and  the  joy  of  being  lifted  up 
again  into  harmony  with  God,  are  thus  expressed  by 
a  Tamil  poet,  Sivavdkydr,  who  lived  and  wrote  near 
Madura,  in  Southern  India,  many  centuries  ago  (I 
quote  the  translation  of  Grover)  : 

"  Our  God  an  ocean  is,  Infinity, 
No  eye  can  see  the  end ;  He  has  no  bound ; 
He  who  would  see  and  know  Him  must  repress 
The  waves  of  his  own  heart,  must  be  at  peace  ; 
His  sole  desire  is  God ;  his  every  sense 
Must  turn  to  that  great  One  and  clasp  but  Him. 

"  There  is  no  real  but  He.     The  one  that  fills 
All  space ;  He  dwelleth  everywhere ;  the  Sun, 
That  sends  its  light  through  all  the  lower  world, 
Pervades  much  less  than  He.     Yet  men  deny 
And  will  not  know  their  God ;  they  love  to  lie 
In  mire  of  sin.     But  I  have  learned  of  Him, 
And  find  no  single  thing  in  all  the  world 
To  show  how  great  His  glory.     Words  must  fail 
To  tell  the  joy,  the  bliss,  I  have  in  Him  : 
Yet,  when  I  try,  no  man  believes  my  speech. 

"  There  is  but  one  in  all  the  world  ;  none  else. 
That  one  is  God  ;  the  Lord  of  all  that  is ; 
He  never  had  beginning  ;  never  hath  an  end. 
Oh,  God  !     I  once  knew  naught  of  what  Thou  art, 
And  wandered  far  astray.     But  when  Thy  light 
Pierced  through  my  dark,  I  woke  to  know  my  God. 
Oh,  Lord  !  I  long  for  Thee  alone  ;  I  long 
For  none  but  Thee  to  dwell  within  my  soul." 


26  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

It  is  thus  evident  that  there  has  not  been  lacking  in 
these  various  scriptures  and  poets  measurably  true 
characterizations  of  God }  nor  a  consciousness  of  per- 
sonal sin ;  its  power,  its  consequences ;  nor  definite 
and  distinct  exhortations  to  purity  and  holiness  of 
life.  And  yet  the  people  of  those  lands  have,  as  they 
freely  admit,  been  sadly  degenerating  from  the  high 
moral  standard  of  their  forefathers,  and  sinking  more 
and  more  into  immorality  and  impurity  of  life. 

And  why  I  Why  is  it  that  they  do  not  attain  to 
the  end  to  which  they  are  thus  eloquently  urged  to 
aim! 

It  is  because  they  know  of  no  help  and  seek  no  help 
outside  of  themselves.  They  have  no  Daysman,  no 
Divine  Burden-bearer,  no  sympathizing  High  Priest, 
no  God-man  reaching  down  to  help  them  up. 

These  delicious  glimmerings  of  light  we  do  find,  by 
patient  search,  in  the  religions  of  the  Orient,  and  in 
the  existence  of  such,  we  missionaries,  who  have  to 
combat  those  systems,  continually  rejoice.  We 
gladly  use  those  flashes  of  light  in  bringing  home  the 
truth  to  the  people,  as  did  Paul  at  Athens,  where  he 
enforced  his  argument  by  saying  :  "As  certain  also 
of  your  own  poets  have  said  "  ;  but  we  sadly  rec- 
ognize how  utterly  inadequate  is  that  light  to  lead 
sinful  man  to  peace  with  God. 

In  a  dark  night  in  India,  when  some  of  our  mis- 
sionaries on  a  journey  had  reached  camp,  but  our 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     27 

lamps  had  not  yet  come,  I  spied  a  brilliant  glow- 
worm crawling  in  the  grass  at  my  feet.  Lifting  him 
gently  up,  I  made  him  crawl  slowly  down  the  page 
of  my  pocket  Testament,  and,  by  the  aid  of  his  tiny 
but  grateful  light,  I  was  able  to  read  aloud  a  chapter 
of  the  Divine  Word,  ere  we  kneeled  to  commend  our- 
selves for  the  night  to  the  Shepherd  of  Israel.  But 
who  would  use  the  glowworm's  feeble  glimmer  when 
he  could  have  the  glorious  light  of  the  orb  of  day  ! 

Then,  too,  the  people  of  those  lands  little  know  and 
less  appreciate,  even  the  light  that  their  own  Scrip- 
tures do  give. 

A  Brahman,  at  the  close  of  a  lecture  in  Madras 
in  which  I  had  made  use  of  some  of  the  above  quota- 
tions, and  many  more  like  them,  came  to  me  and 
said,  "Sir,  whence  did  you  cull  all  these  beautiful 
utterances  ?  I  never  knew  that  our  V6das  and  our 
poets  contained  such  gems. "  He  knew  not  the  weeks 
and  months  of  patient  toil  required  in  searching 
through  bushels  of  rubbish  to  find  those  few  pearls. 
And  yet  they  are  there  for  those  who  seek  them. 
Yes,  the  religions  of  the  Orient,  many  of  them,  do 
distinctly  point  to  the  gulf  that  exists  between  sinful 
man  and  sinless  God  ;  the  gulf  that  cannot  be  crossed 
until  man  is  in  some  way  free  from  sin.  They  bring 
the  loDging  soul  of  man  up  to  the  brink  of  the  yawn- 
ing chasm  ;  they  point  to  the  Delectable  Mountains 
on  the  other  side ;  to  the  God  of  Holiness  there  reg- 


28  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

nant ;  they  leave  the  sinner  standing  there,  yearning 
to  cross,  but  unable  to  bridge  the  chasm. 

Buddha  whispers,  "right  belief;  right  judgment ; 
right  utterance ;  right  motives ;  right  occupation  ; 
right  obedience  ;  right  memory  ;  right  meditation  ; 
these  are  the  eight  infallible  steps. "  But  they  bridge 
not  the  chasm. 

Brahmanism  whispers,  "religious  rites;  ceremo- 
nial bathings ;  prescribed  penances ;  continued  aus- 
terities; meritorious  works."  And  yet  the  soul  op- 
pressed with  guilt  stands  shivering  on  the  brink, 
knowing  that  these  can  never  lift  him  over. 

"Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest,"  whispers  Jesus; 
"for  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

The  chasm  is  bridged.  The  God-man  has  spanned 
its  else  impassable  depths ;  yon  heights  of  glory  are 
now  accessible  to  the  feet  of  every  believer ;  eternal 
companionship  with  Holy  God,  the  loving  Father, 
can  now  be  attained,  for  Christ  our  High  Priest, 
Jesus  our  Elder  Brother,  awaits  us  there,  and  intro- 
duces us  as  His  brethren. 

Yes,  Jesus,  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the 
sins  of  the  world ;  Jesus  the  Daysman  betwixt  us  and 
God,  who  Himself  suffered  being  tempted,  and  so  is 
able  to  succour  them  that  are  tempted ;  Jesus  the 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     29 

Christ,  reaching  down  to  help  us  sinful  men  ;  this  is 
the  crowning  glory  of  Christianity ;  it  is  this  that 
differentiates  it  from  all  the  other  religions  of  the 
world ;  it  is  this  that  makes  Christianity  the  growing, 
all-pervading,  all-conquering  power  that  it  is  proving 
itself  to  be ;  it  is  this  that  makes  it  completely  satisfy 
the  highest  desires  of  the  soul  of  man. 

From  the  Christian  system  strike  out  Jesus,  the 
atoning  Saviour,  the  sympathizing  High  Priest, 
touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities,  and  you 
blot  the  sun  out  of  day,  the  moon  out  of  night,  the 
stars  out  of  the  firmament ;  you  leave  the  disabled 
steamer  floating  in  mid-ocean  with  no  motive  power 
to  bring  it  to  shore. 

Jesus,  the  incarnate  God,  with  His  divine  finger, 
touches  each  human  soul  that  cries  to  Him ;  enkin- 
dles in  it  a  spark  of  His  own  love,  implants  a  desire 
for  holiness  not  felt  before  ;  infuses  strength  to  resist 
the  evil,  to  follow  after  the  good. 

This  is  the  new  birth,  that  came  to  Paul,  and 
changed  his  life,  that  comes  to  all  Christ's  true  dis- 
ciples, and  changes  their  lives.  It  is  rightly  called  a 
new  creation;  "  Old  things  are  passed  away;  all 
things  are  become  new." 

This  new  motive-power  in  the  lives  of  the  disciples 
of  Jesus  is  noticed,  and  keenly  noted,  by  many  who 
have  not  as  yet  embraced  Him  as  their  personal 
Saviour. 


J 


30  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

Some  years  ago  I  was  out  on  a  Gospel  preaching 
tour  in  the  Telugu  country,  in  regions  away  from  any 
of  our  Christian  congregations.  I  had  my  travelling 
dispensary  with  me.  There  came  to  my  tent  one  day 
an  educated  Hindu  gentleman,  high  in  office,  in  caste, 
and  in  social  position.  He  had  previously  sent,  ask- 
ing if  I  would  see  him  privately,  and  prescribe  for 
him  for  a  physical  ailment.  I  found  that  that  was  a 
simple  matter,  despatched  in  a  few  words ;  he  had 
merely  used  that  as  a  cover  to  secure  conversation 
with  me  privately,  Nicodemus-like,  on  religious 
matters.  He  himself  introduced  the  subject.  We 
talked  for  some  time  on  the  character  and  the  claims 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
At  length,  in  a  very  earnest,  feeling  manner  he  spoke 
substantially  as  follows : 

"Sir,  I  am  not  a  Christian:  I  am  still  regarded 
as  an  orthodox  Hindu.  But  in  my  heart  I  dare  not 
deny  the  claims  of  the  Bible.  J  see  the  power  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  lives  of  His  followers  so  distinctly  that  I 
cannot  deny  His  Divinity.  He  must  be  divine,  or  He 
could  not  work  such  a  change  in  the  lives  of  those 
who  become  His  disciples.  He  is  not  yet  my  Saviour. 
Caste,  wealth,  position,  family,  all  hold  me  back. 
But,  even  now,  I  never  allow  Him  to  be  spoken 
against  in  my  presence.  I  have  long  been  reading 
the  Bible  in  secret.  The  more  I  read  of  Christ  and 
ponder  over  His  life  and  teachings,  and  the  power  to 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     31 

conquer  sin  that  conies  from  embracing  His  religion, 
the  more  do  I  feel  that  in  the  end  I  shall  have  to  ac- 
cept Him  at  any  cost  as  my  personal  Saviour." 

As  compared  with  this,  in  what  a  night  of  dark- 
ness does  Hinduism  leave  even  its  most  earnest 
devotees ! 

Never  shall  I  forget  an  interview  that  I  had,  over 
forty  years  ago  now,  with  a  venerable  Brahman  pil- 
grim, an  earnest  seeker  after  relief  from  the  burden 
of  sin. 

It  was  in  February,  1861,  that  two  of  us  mission- 
aries were  out  on  a  preaching  tour,  in  a  part  of  the 
Telugu  country  lying  on  the  edge  of  the  Mysore 
Kingdom,  a  region  in  which  the  Gospel  of  salvation 
through  Jesus  Christ  had,  so  far,  never  yet  been  pro- 
claimed. 

Our  tent  was  pitched  under  a  spreading  banyan 
tree.  We  had  been  there  for  several  days,  and  had 
preached  in  all  the  villages  and  hamlets  within  three 
miles  of  our  camp.  That  morning  we  had  left  our 
tent  before  sunrise  and  gone  out  several  miles  to 
preach  iu  a  cluster  of  villages  nestled  in  among  the 
hills.  In  each  village,  after  the  oral  proclamation, 
we  had  offered  gospels  and  tracts  in  their  own  tongue 
to  the  people  who  had  listened,  but  only  a  few  would 
receive  them,  so  suspicious  were  they,  at  that  time, 
of  anything  new. 

We  returned  to  our  tent  weary  with  our  morning 


32  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

work.  The  burden  of  our  thoughts  was,  "  Lord,  who 
hath  believed  our  report,  and  to  whom  is  the  arm  of 
the  Lord  revealed  f  " 

As  we  came  near,  we  saw  a  venerable,  gray-haired 
Brahman,  engaged  in  his  devotions — on  a  large  stone 
platform  around  the  central  trunk  of  an  adjacent  ban- 
yan tree,  where  there  was  a  small  shrine.  Slowly, 
with  beads  in  hand,  he  performed  his  circumambula- 
tions,  keeping  his  face  towards  the  shrine,  reciting 
his  mantrams,  his  prayers,  his  petitions.  Each  time 
that  he  came  in  front  of  the  shrine  he  fell  prostrate 
upon  the  ground,  performing  the  Sdshtdngam  of  the 
Hindus,  and  then,  sliding  one  bead  on  his  rosary,  he 
would  slowly  and  reverently  go  around  the  tree  again. 

Much  struck  by  his  reverent  demeanour  and  evident 
earnestness,  we  watched  him  through  the  corded 
meshes  of  our  tent  window,  and  when  he  had  finished 
his  devotions,  and  had  sat  down  to  rest,  we  went  out 
and,  courteously  addressing  him,  asked  him  what  he 
sought  by  these  prayers  and  circumambulations. 

"  Oh,  sirs,"  said  he,  in  a  tone  that  struck  us  as  one 
of  intense  earnestness,  "  I  am  seeking  to  get  rid  of 
the  burden  of  sin.  All  my  life  I  have  been  seeking 
it,  but  each  effort  that  I  make  is  as  unsuccessful  as 
the  one  before,  and  still  the  burden  is  here.  My  pil- 
grimages and  prayers  and  penances  for  sixty  years 
have  all  been  in  vain.  Alas,  I  know  not  how  my  de- 
sire can  be  accomplished." 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     33 

Then,  in  answer  to  our  inquiries,  he  gave  us  the 
story  of  his  life.  He  told  us  how,  in  early  life,  he 
had  been  sorely  troubled  by  the  thought  of  his  unex- 
piated  sins ;  that  his  parents  had  both  died  when  he 
was  seventeen  years  of  age,  leaving  him,  an  only 
child,  sole  heir  of  their  wealth ;  that  the  priests, 
whom  he  consulted,  told  him  that  if  he  would  give 
all  his  property  to  endow  a  temple  the  burden  of  sin 
would  be  removed. 

He  gave  his  property,  all  of  it.  He  endowed  a 
temple ;  but  the  burden  of  sin  was  no  lighter.  His 
mind  was  not  at  peace.  Obedient  to  further  advice 
from  the  priests,  his  counsellors,  he  made  the  pil- 
grimage on  foot  all  the  long  way  to  Benares,  the  holy 
city.  He  spent  two  years  in  the  precincts  of  the 
temples  in  worship.  He  spent  two  years  in  bathing 
in  the  holy  Ganges.  "But,"  said  he,  "the  Ganges 
water  washed  the  foulness  from  my  skin,  not  the 
foulness  from  my  soul,  and  still  the  old  burden  was 
there,  uneased."  He  told  us  how  he  had  gone  thence 
on  foot,  all  the  way  to  Bameshweram,  begging  his 
food,  all  the  two  thousand  miles,  for  he  had  given  all 
his  money  to  the  temple,  and  thence  to  Srirangam, 
and  thence  again  to  other  holy  places.  He  told  us 
how  he  had  spent  his  whole  life  in  these  pilgrimages, 
and  in  penances,  and  in  desert  wanderings,  apart 
from  his  kind,  living  on  roots  and  nuts  and  jungle 
fruits,  remaining  for  years  at  a  time  in  the  forest 


34  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

jungles,  in  the  vain  search  for  relief  from  the  burden 
of  sin. 

"And  now,  sirs,"  said  he,  "  my  life  is  almost  gone  ; 
my  hair  is  thin  and  white ;  my  eyes  are  dim ;  my 
teeth  are  gone  ;  my  cheeks  are  sunken ;  my  body  is 
wasted ;  I  am  an  old,  old  man ;  and  yet,  sirs,  the 
burden  of  sin  is  just  as  heavy  as  when,  a  young  man, 
I  started  in  pursuit  of  deliverance.  O  sirs,  does  your 
Ve'da  tell  how  I  can  get  rid  of  this  burden  of  sin 
and  be  at  peace  f  Our  Ve'das  have  not  shown  me 
how." 

How  gladly  did  we  tell  him  of  our  gracious  "  bur- 
den-bearer "  and  of  His  loving  call,  "  Come  unto  Me 
all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden  and  I  will  give 
you  rest."  How  eagerly  did  he  listen,  as  we  told 
him  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  God-man,  the  Saviour  of  the 
world,  and  of  what  He  had  done  for  our  salvation. 
How  eagerly  did  he  pore  over  the  gospels  we  gave 
him,  and  what  earnest  questions  did  he  ask,  during 
the  day,  as  to  points  in  their  teachings  which  he  did 
not  quite  understand.  During  that  night  he  left  and 
went  upon  his  way,  taking  the  gospels  with  him,  and 
we  never  again  saw  him. 

Though  so  many  years  have  intervened,  his  earnest, 
reverent  countenance  remains  photographed  on  my 
memory,  and  I  shall  look  for  him  up  there  among  the 
redeemed,  for  I  believe  he  was  in  earnest  in  seeking 
deliverance  from  the  burden  of  sin ;  in  vain,  indeed, 


Their  Beauties,  and  Their  Fatal  Defects     35 

as  he  said,  through  Hinduism  ;  I  trust  not  in  vain 
through  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Yes,  the  great  religions  all  agree  in  the  main  as  to 
man's  having  fallen  into  the  pit  of  sin.  But  all,  save 
Christianity,  leave  man  in  the  pit,  in  vain  struggling 
to  help  himself  out. 

Christianity  alone  pictures  the  Lord  of  Life,  clothed 
in  human  form,  coming  by  and  looking  down  into 
that  pit  with  eyes  of  compassion,  and  bending  over 
and  reaching  a  hand  far  down  for  each  repentant 
sinner  to  clasp  and  be  drawn  out,  that  his  feet  may 
be  fixed  on  heavenly  ground. 

Nay,  more ;  it  is  not  sufficient  that  there  should  be 
simply  an  Almighty  Being  coming  to  the  rescue  ;  but, 
to  reach  our  needs,  it  must  be  one  endowed  with  our 
nature,  suffering  with  us.  It  must  be  one  ' '  who  can 
have  compassion  on  the  ignorant  and  on  them  that 
are  out  of  the  way,  for  that  He  Himself  also  [in  the 
days  of  His  flesh]  was  compassed  with  infirmity." 

And  such  is  this,  our  Jesus,  for  "being  made  per- 
fect He  became  the  Author  of  eternal  salvation  unto 
all  them  that  obey  Him." 

Yes,  the  magnetic  love  of  Jesus  Christ  does  make 
an  impact  on  the  soul  that  cries  to  Him.  That  im- 
pact imparts  power  to  spring  out  of  Satan's  thraldom 
into  God's  liberty.  It  makes  us  sons  of  God.  It  seals 
us  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Fellow  disciples  of  Christ  Jesus  !    In  this  truth  lies 


36  The  Religions  of  the  Orient 

our  power  ;  not  in  the  fierce  denunciation  of  the 
errors  of  those  systems  which  we  are  seeking  to  sup- 
plant, but,  acknowledging  whatever  of  truth  they  do 
contain,  and  using  it  as  a  help,  our  power  lies  in 
presenting  in  the  most  vivid  light  this  higher  truth, 
higher  than  they  ever  conceived  of,  even  in  their 
most  rapturous  dreams,  Jesus  the  divine,  the  sympa- 
thizing, the  all-sufficient  help-giver,  and  burden- 
bearer  come  to  our  aid.  Yes,  in  this  truth  lies  our 
power  ;  our  power  for  work  in  the  home  land  ;  our 
power  for  work  at  the  ends  of  the  earth.  How  it 
challenges  us  to  obedience  ;  how  it  energizes  us  for  the 
conflict  in  the  carrying  out  of  that  Saviour's  ascend- 
ing behest,  "  6?o,  evangelize  att  the  nations!" 

The  key  is  furnished  us  ;  the  incentive,  the  con- 
straining love  of  Christ,  is  limitless ;  the  leverage  is 
adequate.  Come  on,  Immanuel's  folio  were  !  let  us  lift 
the  world  for  Christ,  through  Christ,  to  Christ. 


rti 

THE  BOOK  THAT  SHALL  SUPPLANT  THE 
VEDAS;  THE  BIBLE  TESTED  IN  INDIA 

"The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect  "  (David}. 

word  "law,"  or  the  expression  "  the  law 


r         of  the  Lord,"  is  used  in  two  senses  in  the 
•*-       Bible  :  the  first  confines  it  to  the  law  of 
Moses. 

On  a  journey  home  from  India,  after  passing  up 
through  the  length  of  the  Ked  Sea  to  Egypt,  I  turned 
aside  and  went  down  through  the  desert  and  came  to 
and  climbed  up  to  the  summit  of  Mount  Sinai.  I 
stood  on  the  very  spot  where,  thirty-three  centuries 
before,  amid  thunderings  and  lightnings,  that  law 
was  delivered  by  Jehovah  to  Moses.  I  looked  out  on 
that  beautiful,  triangular  plain,  some  five  miles  long 
by  three  broad,  shut  in  by  high  mountains  on  every 
side,  and  coming  to  the  foot  of  the  almost  perpendic- 
ular Sinai  —  "the  mount  that  might  be  touched"  — 
from  every  part  of  which  plain  the  summit  of  the 
mount  might  be  seen,  and  the  cloud  resting  on  the 
mount.  I  remembered  that,  when  that  law  was  de- 
livered, all  of  the  worshippers  of  the  true  God, 
Jehovah,  in  the  then  world,  were  gathered  on  that 

37 


38      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vedas 

plain  waiting  for  their  divine  orders, — for  that  law, 
the  observance  of  which  should  make  them  "  a  pecu- 
liar people,"  until  the  time  when  the  Nazarene  should 
appear,  and,  breaking  down  the  encircling  walls  of 
exclusiveness,  should  gather  in  all  nations,  even  us 
Gentiles,  unto  Himself ;  and  I  thought  how  all-im- 
portant it  was  that  the  law  then  and  there  delivered 
should  be  "  perfect."  And  it  is  perfect.  The  learn- 
ing, the  sagacity,  the  ingenuity  of  all  succeeding  ages 
have  utterly  failed  to  produce  so  perfect  a  code  of 
morals  as  was  there  proclaimed.  This,  even  Chris- 
tianity's worst  enemies  have  ever  admitted.  Aye,  the 
"moral  law  "  successfully  challenges  the  admiration 
of  the  whole  world  as  a  perfect  law. 

But  the  expression,  "  the  law  of  the  Lord,"  is  used 
in  a  broader  sense.  It  means,  the  whole  revealed  will 
of  God,  as  contained  in  the  book  called  "  the  Bible." 
And  in  this,  its  broadest  sense,  we  are  prepared  to 
fling  down  the  gauntlet  and  challenge  the  contradic- 
tion of  the  world,  while  we  declare  and  maintain  that 
"  the  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect" 

First,  take  it  as  a  literary  production.  Where  do 
we  find  such  sublime  poetic  imagery  as  in  the  Bible  ? 
where  such  exactness  and  accuracy  of  historic  detail, 
as  evidenced  by  known  profane  history,  and  more 
and  more  by  each  successive  Assyrian  and  Egyptian 
discovery?  where  such  majestic  soarings  of  prophetic 
vision  t  where  such  faithful  portrayal  of  character  in 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  39 

biography?  where  such  intensity  and  sublimity  of 
the  righteous  denunciation  of  wrong?  where  such  in- 
imitable pleadings  with  those  who  needlessly  are 
' '  weary  and  heavy  laden ' '  ?  where  such  winning 
portrayals  of  the  divine  life  in  man,  as  in  the  par- 
ables that  Jesus  spoke  ? 

But  there  is  another  test  of  literary  productions, 
which  but  few  books  indeed  can  stand.  Bunyan's 
"Pilgrim's  Progress"  has  stood  that  test  measurably 
well ;  but  how  many  other  books  are  there  that  can  f 
I  mean  the  test  of  translation  into  diverse  languages 
of  dissimilar  people,  of  different  modes  of  thought 
and  varied  forms  of  expressing  their  thoughts  and 
conceptions.  Shakespeare  translated  into  French,  we 
are  told,  is  emasculated ;  how  if  translated  into 
Chinese?  How  would  Mrs.  Partington  sound  in  Ger- 
man ?  Longfellow  or  Tennyson,  in  Hottentot  ?  Irving 
in  Arabic  ?  or  Whittier  in  Choctaw  ?  The  Bible  has 
stood  this  crucial  test  in  the  languages  of  all  quarters 
of  the  globe.  And  in  this  matter  I  speak  from  some 
experience  and  from  extended  observation  ;  for,  hav- 
ing been  for  years  engaged  in  the  work  of  translating 
the  Scriptures  from  the  originals  into  one  of  the  most 
polished  of  the  languages  of  the  East  ;  having,  in  my 
journeys,  visited  the  mission  stations  of  forty  differ- 
ent missionary  societies,  labouring  in  twenty-nine 
different  languages  ;  and  having  conversed  with  many 
of  those  engaged  in  translating  the  Bible  into  those 


4O      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vedas 

languages,  as  well  as  with  others,  in  Europe  and 
America,  engaged  in  similar  work,  I  know  whereof  I 
affirm  when  I  repeat  the  declaration,  that  the  Bible 
has  stood  this  crucial  test  of  translation  into  the 
languages  of  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  From  Green- 
land to  Patagonia,  in  the  western  hemisphere  ;  from 
Iceland  through  Europe  and  Asia  to  the  Japanese 
and  the  Australasians,  in  the  eastern  ;  from  the  Copts 
of  Egypt  to  the  Kafirs  of  South  Africa ;  from  the 
South  Sea  Islands  of  the  Pacific  through  the  oceans  to 
Madagascar,  the  Bible  has  been  rendered  into  their 
languages  with  triumphant  success. 

Moses'  history  of  the  creation  and  of  the  early 
world  j  Joshua's  wars  and  marches  ;  the  defeats  and 
victories  under  the  Judges  and  Kings;  David's 
penitential  prayers  and  psalms  of  praise  ;  Solomon's 
peerless  Proverbs  ;  Isaiah's  splendid  imagery ;  Jere- 
miah's doleful  lamentations ;  Luke,  the  physician's, 
wonderful  life-pictures  of  Christ  on  earth,  and  of  the 
founding  of  the  early  Christian  Church ;  Paul's 
masterly  orations  at  Athens,  and  before  the  Sanhe- 
drim and  Felix,  and  his  doctrinal  epistles,  so  full  of 
strong  meat ;  John's  marvellous  Eevelation,  these  all 
come  with  the  same  force,  and  adaptedness,  and 
sweetness,  and  conviction,  in  each  of  the  four  hun- 
dred and  twenty-one  languages  into  which  the  divine 
Book  has  been  already  translated,  and  witness  to  us 
that,  in  this  respect,  it  is  perfect. 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  41 

Again,  take  the  Bible  in  its  adaptedness  to  all  the 
races  and  peoples,  as  well  as  languages,  of  mankind. 

It  meets  the  soul's  wants  of  the  Hindus,  as  we 
shall  see  as  we  go  on,  from  the  intellectual  Brahmans 
to  the  most  illiterate  Pariahs.  It  infuses  new  life 
and  character  into  the  phlegmatic  inhabitants  of 
Labrador  and  Greenland,  no  less  than  into  the  versa- 
tile French.  The  Patagonian  and  the  Alaskan  find 
it  equally  adapted  to  their  soul's  needs.  The  Equa- 
torial tribes  of  Africa  and  Malaysia  are  no  less  helped 
by  it.  The  races  of  the  South  Sea  Islands  and  the  in- 
habitants of  Siberia  are  both  lifted  to  a  higher  life  by 
its  teachings.  The  Mohammedan  Arabs  are  no  less 
helped  by  it  than  the  fetish  worshippers  of  Central 
Africa. 

In  every  missionary  field  among  all  races  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible,  and  the  putting  of  it  into  the  hands 
of  the  people,  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  learned 
and  unlearned,  is  the  first  and  most  imperative  care 
of  the  Christian  missionary. 

"Without  the  Bible  thus  to  present  in  its  richness 
and  spiritual  uplift  to  the  different  races  of  mankind, 
the  missionary  work  could  not  possibly  go  on. 

A  missionary  without  the  Bible !  as  well  try  to 
cook  without  fire  or  heat ;  as  well  try  to  sail  a  ship 
without  water  ;  as  well  try  to  propel  a  steamer  with- 
out steam ;  as  well  try  to  breathe  without  air.  If  the 
printing  and  distribution  of  the  Bible  ceases,  while 


42      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  V6das 

yet  the  nations  are  arrayed  in  hostility  to  Christ, 
then  let  it  be  announced  to  the  world  that  the  soldiers 
of  Christ's  kingdom  have  laid  down  their  arms.  Let 
it  cease,  and  all  the  powers  of  darkness  will  rise  and 
claim  the  victory  as  nearly  won.  Aye,  the  very  imps 
of  hell  will  hold  a  jubilee,  for  it  is  darkness  that  they 
love,  and  the  Bible  gives  light. 

But  again,  take  the  Bible  as  an  engine  devised  for 
the  performance  of  a  certain  work,  and  test  it  well, 
and  see  whether  it  does  that  work  or  no.  The  Bible 
contains  a  plan  devised  for  the  redemption  and  eleva- 
tion of  all  mankind.  Take  the  Bible,  then,  as  an 
engine  thus  devised  for  the  performance  of  a  certain 
work,  and  test  it  fully  and  see  whether  it  does  that 
work  or  no.  And  it  is  to  this  view  of  the  subject 
that  I  now  particularly  ask  attention. 

Is  this  old  Bible,  given  centuries  ago  among  the 
Jewish  people,  now  calculated  to  do  the  work  for 
which  it  was  designed  ?  or,  in  this  day  of  progress 
and  of  the  intermingling  of  nations,  do  we  find  it 
antiquated,  and  its  day  of  adaptedness  and  useful- 
ness passed  away? 

This  is,  emphatically,  an  age  not  alone  of  change, 
but  of  improvement.  Fast  mail-trains  and  the  tele- 
graph have  taken  the  place  of  the  old  mounted  mail- 
carrier,  with  his  mail-bags  thrown  over  the  horse 
upon  which  he  rode.  The  four  and  six-horse  stage- 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  43 

coach  has  given  way  to  palace  cars.  The  quiet 
stitching  of  the  seamstress  is  replaced  by  the  hum  of 
the  sewing-machine.  There  is  scarcely  a  piece  of 
machinery,  of  any  kind,  now  in  use  that  was  used 
even  by  our  grandfathers.  New  books,  new  systems 
of  sciences,  new  methods  in  the  arts,  all,  all  is  new. 
Have  we  made  a  mistake,  then,  in  holding  on  to  our 
"  Old  Bible"  too  long?  If  so,  let  us  acknowledge  it 
like  men,  and  try  to  replace  it  with  something  better  ; 
but  first  let  us  put  it  to  the  proof  and  see. 

Now,  in  testing  a  machine  or  engine  it  is  necessary 
to  try  it  in  all  the  different  circumstances  in  which  it 
is  to  be  employed,  especially  in  the  worst.  For  ex- 
ample ;  while  I  was  in  India,  during  the  Civil  War 
in  America  the  government  of  India  sought  to  intro- 
duce the  best  machinery  for  ginning,  and  spinning, 
and  weaving  the  cotton  growing  there.  A  proclama- 
tion was  issued,  and  published  in  every  country 
where  machinery  was  made,  offering  a  princely 
premium  for  that  machinery  that  should  best  do  the 
work.  And  when,  after  nearly  a  year  of  prepara- 
tion, the  machinery  was  gathered  from  the  four  quar- 
ters of  the  globe  on  the  banks  of  the  sacred  Ganges, 
when  the  Viceroy  and  his  council  and  the  judges  had 
assembled  to  test  it,  it  was  tried  not  alone  with  the 
cotton  grown  there  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  but 
cotton  was  brought  from  the  base  of  the  Himalaya 
Mountains,  and  from  the  plains  of  Tinnevelly,  near 


44      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  V£das 

Cape  Comorin,  from  the  hill  country  of  Berar,  and 
from  the  plains  of  Bellary,  and  the  country  about 
Bombay ;  and  the  machinery  that  best  did  the  work 
in  all,  the  long  staple  and  the  short,  the  coarse  and 
the  fine,  it  was  that  that  won  the  prize,  and  it  is  that 
that  is  now  doing  the  work  in  India.  So  if  an  ocean 
steamer  be  launched,  it  must  be  tried  not  alone  on 
the  smooth  waters  of  the  bay  or  river  on  the  banks 
of  which  it  was  constructed,  for  until  it  has  crossed 
the  ocean,  breasting  the  mountain  billows  in  a  storm, 
no  one  can  tell  whether  after  all  it  really  will  be  a 
safe  vehicle  for  human  life.  So  with  every  kind  of 
machinery,  it  must  be  tested  in  the  worst  circum- 
stances in  which  it  will  be  called  to  act. 

For  the  last  twoscore  years  I  have  been  engaged  in 
putting  the  Bible  to  just  such  a  test,  and  that  under 
the  most  unpropitious  circumstances. 

India  is  Satan's  stronghold.  Hinduism,  with  its 
handmaid  caste,  weaves  iron  fetters  around  its  vo- 
taries. With  much  of  truth  in  its  scriptures,  the 
V&las,  it  has  degenerated  into  the  worst  of  polythe- 
ism and  idolatry  ;  with  its  defective  view  of  God  and 
man,  it  has  had  no  conservating,  elevating  influence 
over  its  votaries.  The  Hindus  are  at  once  a  very  re- 
ligious, and  a  grossly  immoral,  people.  Intelligent, 
sharp,  quick-witted,  immutable  in  their  nature, 
wedded  to  their  ancient  system,  which  is  a  splendid 
one  though  false,  the  Brahmanists  are  the  most  able 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  45 

and  determined  adversaries  of  what  they  term  the 
"new  religion."  If  the  Bible  will  work  in  India 
then,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  it  will  work  any- 
where. How,  then,  does  it  work  in  India  ?  Let  us 
test  it  in  various  ways  and  see. 

And  first:  Does  this  "  old  Bible,"  given  so  many 
centuries  ago  among  the  Jews,  describe  the  human  heart 
of  to-day,  and  the  condition  of  man  in  different  lands  f 
or  is  it  antiquated  and  defective  in  this  respect  f 

On  a  certain  occasion,  many  years  ago,  I  went  into 
a  native  city  in  India,  where  the  name  of  Jesus  had 
never  been  heard,  there  for  the  first  time  to  show 
them  and  give  them  these  Scriptures,  and  to  preach 
to  them  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  salvation.  As  an 
introduction,  when  we  had  assembled  an  audience  in 
the  street,  I  asked  my  native  assistant  to  read  the 
first  chapter  of  Eomans,  that  chapter  which  those  who 
call  themselves  liberal  minded  tell  us  is  too  black  to 
be  true  ;  that  chapter  that  describes  the  heart  of  man 
wandering  away  from  God,  and  into  sin,  and  conceiv- 
ing vile  conceptions  of  God,  and  then  wandering  away 
farther,  until  at  last,  "  though  they  know  the  judg- 
ments of  God,  that  they  which  do  such  things  are 
worthy  of  death,  not  only  do  the  same,  but  have 
pleasure  in  them  that  do  them  "  ; — the  chapter  which 
many  tell  us  is  a  libel  upon  human  nature.  That 
chapter  was  read.  The  most  intelligent  man  in  the 
audience,  a  Brahman,  stepped  forward  and  said  to 


46      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vcdas 

me,  "Sir,  that  chapter  must  have  been  uoritten  for  us 
Hindus.  It  describes  us  exactly."  The  photograph 
was  recognized.  It  had  been  taken  centuries  before, 
and  among  a  Jewish  people ;  but  the  artist  was  divine, 
and  the  heart  that  was  photographed  was  that,  not  of 
a  Jew,  but  of  a  man. 

On  another  occasion,  I  went  into  another  city, 
there  also  for  the  first  time  to  proclaim  Christ  as  the 
way  of  life.  As  we  entered  the  native  town  and 
passed  up  the  main  street,  I  noticed  a  small  Hindu 
temple,  built  upon  the  side  of  the  busiest  street,  with 
its  door  open  and  the  idols  in  at  the  farther  end,  so 
that  passers-by  could  worship  as  they  went  At  the 
side  of  the  door  sat  the  Brahman  priest  of  the  temple 
on  a  pedestal,  unclad  down  to  the  waist,  that  he 
might  receive  the  homage,  the  semi-divine  worship, 
which  the  people  were  wont  to  render  him,  with  a 
platter  by  his  side  to  receive  their  offerings  as  they 
went  in  and  out  of  the  street  to  their  business  or  their 
work.  I  noticed  it  and  passed  on.  Going  up  the 
main  street,  and  looking  here  and  there  and  finding 
no  better  place,  we  came  back  to  this  temple ;  and  as 
I  politely  asked  permission  of  the  Brahman  to  address 
an  audience  from  the  steps  of  the  temple,  he  as 
politely  gave  his  permission  ;  and  singing  a  song  to 
bring  the  people  together,  we  soon  had  the  street 
packed  with  these  who  wondered  what  we  had  come 
for,  and  preached  to  them.  I  took  for  my  theme 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  47 

"the  character  of  any  being  whom  the  intelligent 
mind  of  man  in  any  land  would  be  willing  to  call 
God;"  and  from  the  necessities  of  our  natures, 
I  attempted  to  show  them  that  in  order  to  call  any 
being  God,  we  must  believe  him  to  be  stronger  than 
we  and  stronger  than  any  power  that  might  be  ar- 
rayed against  us ;  that  he  must  be  omnipotent,  or  we 
could  not  trust  him  ;  that  he  must  be  wiser  than  we 
and  wiser  than  any  intelligences  that  might  be  com- 
bined against  us ;  that  he  must  be  omniscient ;  that 
he  must  be  able  in  all  parts  of  his  dominion,  at  the 
same  time,  to  be  and  to  notice  all  passing  events ; 
that  he  must  be  omnipresent ;  that  he  must  be  a  God 
of  love,  a  God  of  justice,  and  so  on.  I  had  painted  to 
them  the  character  and  attributes  of  God,  as  we  find 
them  given  in  our  Bible — not  telling  them  where  I 
found  the  picture,  but  drawing  this  characterization 
of  God  from  the  necessities  of  the  soul  of  man.  The 
intelligent  men  in  the  audience  at  once  acknowl- 
edged the  picture  to  be  a  correct  one,  as  I  went 
on  from  point  to  point,  and  admitted  what  I  said 
to  be  true.  At  last,  completing  the  picture,  I  said 
to  them,  "Now  who  is  God,  and  where  is  God?" 
The  Brahman  priest  sitting  there  on  his  pedestal 
seeing  how  intently  the  audience  of  his  worshippers 
were  listening  to  my  description  of  God,  so  different 
from  that  enshrined  in  the  temple  at  my  side,  and 
seeing  at  a  glance,  with  his  keen  mind,  that  if  this 


48      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  V£das 

description  of  God  was  accepted  as  true  his  employ- 
ment was  gone,  songht  to  create  a  diversion,  and, 
straightening  himself  up,  and  with  his  finger  drawing 
a  line  around  his  stomach,  he  said,  "Sir,  this  is  my 
God  ;  when  this  is  full,  my.  God  is  propitious  ;  when 
this  is  empty,  my  God  is  angry.  Only  give  me 
enough  to  eat  and  drink,  and  that  is  all  the  God  I 
want. ' '  Turning  to  this  same  ' '  old  Book, ' '  I  gave  him 
that  scathing  denunciation  by  Paul  of  those  "whose 
God  is  their  belly,  whose  glory  is  in  their  shame, 
and  whose  end  is  destruction."  And  then  turn- 
ing again  to  the  audience  and  reminding  them  of  the 
pure  and  holy  character  that  I  had  described,  I  told 
them  that  "  this  poor,  miserable  man  here  is  willing 
to  call  his  belly  his  God."  Amid  the  sneers  and 
scorn  of  his  own  worshippers,  he  sprang  from  his 
pedestal,  slank  around  the  corner  of  the  temple,  and 
vanished  down  a  side  street.  How  the  audience 
listened  while  I  described  to  them  Him  in  whom  all 
the  fullness  of  this  Godhead  was  manifested  bodily, 
even  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  Saviour  of  all  of  them,  in 
all  the  world,  that  will  believe  in  Him  ! 

On  another  occasion,  I  was  reading  from  the 
seventh  chapter  of  Eomans  that  declaration  of  Paul 
of  the  power  of  sin  over  us,  where  he  says,  "  When 
I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present  with  me,  and  the 
good  which  I  would  I  do  not,  but  the  evil  which  I 
would  not  that  I  do,"  As.  J  read  it,  the  most  in- 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  49 

telligent  man  in  my  audience  spoke  up,  saying, 
"  That  is  it !  that  is  it !  That  is  exactly  what  is  the 
matter  with  us  Hindus.  Now,  does  your  Book  tell 
us  how  we  can  get  rid  of  that  evil  disposition,  and  do 
the  good  we  would,  and  avoid  doing  the  evil  that  we 
would  not?"  How  gladly,  from  the  same  "old 
Book,"  did  I  point  them  to  Him  who  can  create  a 
new  heart  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  us  ;  who 
can  give  us  not  only  the  desire,  but  the  power  to  do 
good  :  "  For  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  who 
strengtheneth  me." 

On  another  occasion  and  in  a  different  city,  I  read 
the  description,  in  the  forty-fourth  chapter  of  Isaiah, 
of  the  making  and  worshipping  of  images.  When  I 
had  completed  the  reading,  a  sharp  man  in  the 
audience,  a  Brahman,  stepped  out  and  said,  "  Now, 
sir,  we  have  caught  you  !  You  told  us  that  this  was 
an  old  book,  given  long  ago  in  another  part  of  the 
world  to  tell  men  how  they  might  find  God,  and,  how 
worshipping  Him,  they  might  attain  to  peace  with 
Him  ;  but,  sir,  that  that  you  have  just  read  you  have 
written  since  you  came  here  and  saw  how  we  Hindus 
managed  it."  The  photograph  once  more  was  recog- 
nized. 

But  again,  can  this  Book  be  understood  by  high  and 
low,  rich  and  poor,  learned  and  ignorant  ?  Can  this 
Bible  that  was  given  to  a  people  prepared  through 
generations  by  a  special  training,  and  standing  on  a 


50      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vedas 

very  different  moral  plane  from  the  Hindus  of  the 
present  day,  this  Book  with  its  pure  and  holy  doc- 
trines, its  strange,  though  beautiful  and  simple  plan 
of  salvation,  can  it  be  understood  by  those  Hindus 
who  have  sunken  through  centuries  of  moral  pollu- 
tion ? — can  it  be  understood  so  as  to  affect  their  lives 
and  their  character  t 

Come  with  me  to  a  little  town  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  to  the  northwest  of  my  station  at  Madana- 
palle,  in  India.  Some  forty  years  ago  there  lived 
there  a  Hindu,  an  uneducated  man  ;  he  could  simply 
read  and  write,  and  that  was  all,  but  he  felt  the 
burden  of  sin  and  desired  relief.  He  had  tried  all 
that  his  system  taught  him,  and  still  found  no  peace 
of  conscience.  There  came  the  time  of  the  annual 
drawing  of  the  idol  car  (usually  called  by  us  the  car 
of  Juggernaut),  in  a  city  some  thirty  miles  away,  and 
this  man,  mourning  over  his  sin,  went  there,  for  they 
told  him  if  he  would  engage  in  the  ceremonies  there 
and  join  in  the  drawing  of  the  car,  the  burden  of  sin 
would  be  gone  and  he  could  find  relief.  He  went 
there.  The  first  day  passed,  and  the  second  day  of 
the  festivities  was  nearly  through.  That  night  it 
would  close,  and  he  felt  yet  the  burden  of  sin.  He 
knew  that  he  had  not  got  relief.  He  saw  standing 
in  the  crowd  a  man  with  a  book,  wrapped  in  his 
handkerchief  under  his  arm,  he  saw  the  end  stick- 
ing out,  and  asked : 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  51 

"  Stranger,  what  book  is  that  you  have  got  there  ?  " 
Said  he,  "They  call  it  the  iRottaNibandhana'>  "  (the 
New  Testament).  "  What  is  that  f"  "  Why,  they 
say  it  is  the  '  Satya  Veda ' ' ?  (the  true  V6da,  as  we 
term  the  Bible  in  India,  in  distinction  from  their 
Vedas  which  we  do  not  acknowledge  as  true). 

' '  Have  you  read  it  ? ' '     "  No,  I  have  not. ' ' 

"What  does  it  tell  about,  anyhow  ?  " 

11  Why,  they  say  that  it  tells  us  how  to  get  rid  of 
sin." 

"Does  it ;  will  you  sell  it?  "     "  Yes." 

"How  much  will  you  take  for  it1?"  "Well,  give 
me  half  a  rupee  "  (sixteen  cents).  "  All  right."  He 
took  out  the  money  and  gave  it  to  the  man  and  took 
the  book,  wrapped  it  up,  put  it  under  his  arm  and 
went  away.  When  he  got  home  he  opened  it  at  the 
first  chapter  of  Matthew,  and  stumbled  over  those 
difficult  names  in  the  genealogy  of  Christ,  worse 
for  a  Hindu  than  they  are  for  us  to  pronounce.  He 
thought  that  after  all  there  was  not  going  to  be  any- 
thing in  the  book  that  he  could  understand,  and  that 
he  had  lost  his  money  ;  but  he  got  through  that 
genealogy  at  last,  and  came  to  the  story  of  the 
miraculous  birth  of  the  child  Jesus.  That  he  could 
understand.  He  read  on,  and  read  the  story  of  His 
wonderful  childhood,  and  His  marvellous  life,  His 
miraculous  deeds,  and  the  messages  of  mercy  that  He 
gave  to  all  around  Him  ;  and  then,  when  he  was  be- 


52      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  V6das 

ginning  to  think  that  He  mnst  be  the  one  that  should 
redeem  all  lands,  he  came  to  the  story  where  He  was 
killed  and  nailed  upon  a  cross.  Oh,  it  was  all  up  then, 
he  thought  But  he  read  on  amid  his  tears  j  he  read 
of  His  lying  in  the  grave,  and  then  of  that  wonderful 
coming  forth  again  from  the  grave,  and  of  the  scene 
when  He  appeared  to  His  disciples,  and  with  aston- 
ishment he  read  how,  on  Mount  Olivet,  parting  the 
clouds,  He  ascended  to  heaven  ;  and  then  he  turned 
over  and  read  again  in  the  next  Evangelist,  in  fewer 
words,  the  story  of  the  same  life.  Then  he  read  on 
in  a  third  Evangelist  that  same  story,  that  is  never 
repeated  too  often :  Luke's  graphic  life-picture  of 
Christ  on  earth  j  then  he  came  to  the  fourth  Evangel- 
ist, and  there  he  read  of  the  Divine  Sonship  of  that 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  Word  that  became  flesh  and 
dwelt  among  us  ;  and  he  learned  there  of  our  connec- 
tion with  Christ,  the  branch  with  the  vine,  how  He 
would  remain  with  us.  Then  he  read  the  story  of 
the  founding  of  the  early  Christian  Church.  That 
gave  him  still  more  light.  He  read  the  doctrinal 
epistles,  and  feeling  the  burden  of  sin  as  he  did,  he 
did  not  stumble  over  those  hard  doctrines  as  some  in 
Christian  lands  do.  He  read  that  story,  that  wonder- 
ful revelation  of  the  New  Jerusalem  coming  down 
from  God  out  of  heaven  ;  the  home  of  all  those  that 
believe  in  Jesus  when  they  shall  arise  and  meet  Him. 
Ah,  that  was  the  book  for  him.  He  read  in  the 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  53 

book  that  they  were  not  to  forget  the  assembling  of 
themselves  together  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  as 
the  manner  of  some  is,  of  some  perhaps  in  Christian 
countries  too,  and  on  the  first  day  of  their  week, 
which,  singularly,  synchronizes  with  our  Christian 
Sabbath,  he  gathered  his  neighbours  in  his  own  house 
to  hear  him  read  from  "  The  Wonderful  Book."  He 
taught  his  wife  to  read,  a  strange  thing  for  a  Hindu 
to  do,  as  they  never  used  to  teach  their  women  to 
read  ;  but  he  taught  her  to  read  in  order  that  she 
might  be  able  to  read  from  "The  Book."  He 
learned  in  that,  "  When  ye  pray  thus  shall  ye  say, 
Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven;"  and  as  they  as- 
sembled thus  on  each  Sabbath  day  they  joined,  after 
reading  the  word,  in  repeating  that  prayer. 

Some  years  passed  by,  and  the  man  died.  When 
he  died  he  told  his  wife  that  they  must  not  burn  his 
body  as  the  Hindus  are  wont  to  do,  but  bury  it,  for 
Christ  was  buried  ;  that  they  must  not  perform  any 
heathen  ceremony  over  his  grave,  but  read  from 
"The  Book"  and  repeat  "The  Prayer,"  and  leave 
him  there  with  God  ;  for  as  Christ  arose  from  the  dead 
so  would  he  some  day  arise  and  meet  that  Christ  in 
heaven.  His  wife  kept  up  the  reading,  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  to  the  people  from  this  Book.  Years 
more  passed  by.  At  last  there  came  two  missionaries 
into  a  village  some  fifteen  miles  from  this  place. 
They  were  preaching  there  to  the  people,  as  they  sup- 


54      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  V£das 

posed  for  the  first  time  that  they  had  heard  of  Christ 
and  His  salvation,  when  two  men  that  happened  to  be 
there  in  the  market-place  stepped  forward  and  said, 
11  Why,  sirs,  what  you  say  is  exactly  what  '  the  man 
of  "the  Book,"  '  down  at  our  village  used  to  teach." 
They  asked  about  it  and  learned  the  story.  They  went 
down  there  and  found  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a 
little  church  of  Jesus  Christ  established.  It  was 
"The  Book"  that  had  done  it.  They  had  not  re- 
ceived baptism,  nor  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  be  sure, 
but  they  had  that  life  in  their  hearts  that  was  the 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Book  had  shown 
that  it  could  be  understood  and  could  produce  its 
effect. 

That  was  among  the  lowly  ;  how  among  the  higher 
classes  that  have  the  Ve'das,  with  their  purer  teach- 
ings, the  Brahmans  of  India  I  How  does  this  Bible 
work  among  them  1  Is  it  adapted  to  meet  their  felt 
wants! 

Many  years  ago  I  took  a  long  journey  of  five 
months  through  a  native  kingdom  that  had  never  be- 
fore been  traversed,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  by  any 
missionary,  and  where  the  Scriptures  had  never  been 
circulated.  "We  were  warned  that  we  would  meet 
dangers  and  difficulties.  We  did  meet  them  abun- 
dantly ;  but  on  the  way  the  Master  gave  us  such 
cheering  signs  of  His  presence  that  we  were  willing 
to  go  on.  We  had  been  warned  not  to  go,  because  of 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  55 

the  danger,  and  were  told  that  we  would  never  all  of 
us  get  home  alive ;  but  I  read  in  my  commission, 
"  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature."  It  did  not  say,  "  except  Hydera- 
bad;" and  believing  my  commission  was  to  be 
carried  out  I  went,  taking  with  me  four  native  as- 
sistants. I  well  remember  one  Saturday  when  we  had 
attempted  to  cross  a  wide  river  in  basket-boats,  and 
had  been  swept  down  the  stream  three  miles  in  cross- 
ing. At  last,  we  gained  the  shore,  but  we  had  been 
delayed  so  long  that  it  was  midnight,  Saturday  night, 
before  we  reached  the  town  where  we  wished  to  spend 
the  night.  Camping  outside  the  city  we  spent  the 
rest  of  the  night.  Sabbath  morning,  in  our  camp, 
we  held  our  prayer- meeting,  myself,  and  four  native 
preachers  and  our  attendants,  reading  from  the  word 
and  talking  over  the  power  and  goodness  of  Christ ; 
and  in  the  afternoon  we  thought  that  though  we  had 
intended  to  rest  that  Sabbath  we  must  go  out  to  the 
bazaar  and  tell  the  people  of  the  divine  word.  We 
went. 

A  large  audience  assembled  around  us.  We 
preached  to  them  of  Christ  and  His  salvation.  We 
distributed  Scriptures  and  tracts  among  them,  and 
came  back  before  sundowu  to  our  camp,  intending  to 
lie  down  to  rest  early,  as  we  must  start  on  our  jour- 
ney at  half-past  four  the  next  morning,  as  was  our 
wont ;  when,  ere  the  sun  had  set,  a  group  of  men 


56      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vedas 

came  out  of  the  town  with  books  in  their  hands,  say- 
ing to  us,  "  Sirs,  this  is  such  wonderful  news  that  you 
have  told  us.  Won't  you  please  come  back  and  talk 
to  us  some  more  about  it  ?  The  idea  of  a  way  of  get- 
ting rid  of  sin  without  ourselves,  by  the  help  of  a 
Divine  Redeemer  !  It  is  wonderful.  Please  come 
back  and  talk  to  us  some  more  about  it."  We  went 
back. 

Part  of  the  market-place  was  covered  with  Indian 
and  Persian  rugs,  and  with  pillows  for  us  to  sit  upon, 
for  they  said  they  wanted  us  to  talk  longer  than  we 
could  stand  to  talk.  There  were  stakes  driven  in  the 
earthen  floor,  with  little  native  lamps  on  them  to 
light  when  it  should  grow  dark,  for  they  said  they 
wanted  us  to  talk  long  after  it  was  dark.  They  kept 
us  reading  and  talking  until  ten  o'clock  at  night,  and 
would  not  let  us  go.  When  at  last  we  told  them  that 
they  must  allow  us  to  rest,  for  we  were  weary  and 
had  to  start  very  early  in  the  morning,  they  allowed 
us  to  leave,  and  we  went  and  lay  down  to  rest. 

At  half-past  four  in  the  morning  we  had  arisen  ; 
our  carts  were  packed  and  we  were  just  starting  at 
break  of  day,  when  out  came  a  deputation  from  the 
town  with  books  in  their  hands,  with  the  leaves 
turned  down  here  and  there  ;  for  they  said  they  had 
been  reading  the  books  all  night  long,  for  they  were 
sure  they  would  never  have  another  chance  to  ask 
questions  about  them  ;  and  it  was  such  strange  news, 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  57 

and  so  good  if  true,  they  wanted  to  be  sure  that  they 
understood  all  about  it,  and  they  had  come  to  ask 
some  questions  before  we  started.  I  said  to  iny  native 
assistants,  ' '  You  go  on.  Three  miles  north  of  here, 
I  understand,  is  the  town  of  Pebe"ri.  As  you  are 
walking  and  I  have  a  horse,  you  go  on,  and  I  will 
stop  and  answer  these  questions,  and  then  canter  on 
as  rapidly  as  I  can  and  overtake  you.  If  you  get 
there  before  I  do,  go  into  the  town  and  preach  and 
offer  the  Scriptures  and  tracts  for  sale."  We  could 
not  give  them  away  there.  There  was  a  reason  for  it 
that  I  need  not  stop  here  to  explain.  "You  go  on, 
and  I  will  join  you  as  soon  as  I  can." 

They  went  on  ;  while  I  stopped  and  answered  the 
questions.  They  asked  a  great  many  earnest  ques- 
tions. When  I  attempted  to  mount  my  horse,  they 
put  their  hands  on  my  shoulder  and  said,  "  No,  sir, 
you  cannot  go  until  you  answer  some  more  questions." 
I  answered  a  few  more  and  tried  to  spring  on  my 
horse  again  and  go  on,  as  I  did  not  like  to  leave  my 
native  assistants  to  encounter  danger  alone,  if  there 
were  danger,  and  wished  to  hasten  on.  But  they  said, 
"No,  sir,  answer  a  few  more  questions;  don't  go 
yet."  I  stayed  three-quarters  of  an  hour  further  and 
then  went  forward  to  join  my  assistants.  I  cantered 
on  as  rapidly  as  I  could,  and  as  I  approached  the 
town  of  Peb^ri,  which  was  a  walled  town  with  gates, 
I  saw  my  native  assistants  coming  away  from  the 


58      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Ve"das 

town  accompanied  by  some  townspeople.  Speaking 
in  the  Tamil  language,  which  was  not  understood  by 
the  people  there,  I  said  to  them,  "  Would  they  not 
let  you  go  into  the  town?  would  they  not  let  you 
preach?  could  you  not  dispose  of  any  books?" 
"Yes,  sir,"  said  they,  "we  preached  to  a  most  in- 
tensely interested  audience,  and  when  we  offered  our 
books  and  tracts  for  sale  they  bought  every  one  of 
them;  we  haven't  one  left;  they  paid  for  them  all 
and  wanted  more.  We  told  them  you  had  your  sad- 
dle-bags full  of  books,  and  they  have  come  out  here 
to  meet  you  and  buy  more  books." 

Turning  to  them,  I  said  (in  their  own  language,  the 
Telugu),  "Brothers,  I  have  plenty  of  books,  and  you 
shall  have  all  you  want.  But  first  let  us  go  back  into 
the  town,  and  I  will  tell  you  some  more  about  this 
'  wonderful  news.'  "  We  went  back  into  the  town. 
I  saw  that  they  were  the  chief  men  of  the  place. 
There,  in  the  square  before  the  gate,  was  the  plat- 
form for  the  elders  of  the  city  to  sit  upon  and  admin- 
ister the  affairs  of  the  town,  as  in  ancient  Jewish 
times.  They  escorted  me  to  that  platform  and  wished 
me  to  sit  with  them.  As  I  preferred  to  stand  and 
talk,  so  that  I  could  be  heard  by  the  larger  audience 
who  had  gathered  around  they  said  they  would  stand 
too,  for  they  did  not  wish  to  sit  while  their  teacher 
was  standing ;  it  would  not  be  polite.  Standing  there, 
I  proclaimed  to  them  again  the  gospel  of  eternal  life 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  59 

through  Jesus  Christ.  When  I  had  done  speaking, 
I  took  my  saddle-bags  from  my  horse  and  offered  them 
the  books,  and  at  once  there  was  a  rush  for  them.  I 
gave  out  book  after  book,  and  still  they  pressed  upon 
me  until  every  book  was  gone,  and  then  there  were 
forty  hands  held  out,  over  the  shoulders  of  those  be- 
fore them,  with  money  in  them ;  and  they  said, 
"Here,  sir,  take  what  money  you  please,  only  give 
me  a  book  that  tells  about  the  Divine  Father  that  you 
have  told  us  about."  "Give  me  a  book  that  tells 
about  Jesus  Christ  and  His  salvation."  "Give  me 
a  book  that  tells  about  heaven  and  how  I  can  get 
there."  "  Take  what  money  you  please;  only,  do 
give  me  a  book." 

I  told  them,  "Brothers,  I  am  very  sorry  I  did  not 
know  there  were  so  many  educated  men  here,  and 
that  so  many  books  would  be  wanted.  I  have  a  cart- 
load of  books  that  have  gone  on  in  advance,  which 
I  might  have  stopped  for  you  to  buy  all  you 
want." 

"  How  far  has  the  cart  gone  f  "  asked  they.  Judg- 
ing from  the  time,  I  said  that  it  must  have  gone  about 
three  miles. 

They  said,  "If  we  go  on  and  overtake  the  cart, 
will  you  stop  it  and  let  us  buy  the  books?  " 

"Certainly,"  said  I. 

They  at  once  appointed  a  deputation  to  go  on  and 
buy  the  books.  Five  were  appointed.  As  I  had 


60      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vedas 

been  talking,  I  had  particularly  noticed  two  who 
stood  upon  the  platform,  almost  in  front  of  me,  a 
Brahman,  with  venerable  white  hair  and  noble  brow, 
a  very  courteous  and  intelligent  gentleman,  and  his 
son,  as  I  judged  from  his  countenance,  standing  at 
his  side.  They  had  interrupted  me  courteously  now 
and  then,  as  I  was  preaching,  saying  to  me,  "Wait 
a  moment,  sir,  won't  you  explain  that  point  a  little 
farther  ?  this  is  such  strange  news,  we  want  to  be  sure 
that  we  get  it  exactly  right."  I  would  explain  the 
point  and  then  go  on,  and  soon  they  would  stop  me 
again,  asking  pertinent  questions,  anxious  to  under- 
stand everything  I  said.  They  were  among  the  depu- 
tation that  were  appointed  to  go  forward.  The  peo- 
ple put  money  in  their  hands,  each  one  telling  them, 
"Don't  you  forget  to  buy  me  a  book."  "  Buy  me  a 
book  that  tells  of  Jesus  and  His  love."  "Buy  me 
one  of  those  books  that  tell  about  the  Creator,  the 
Divine  Father,  that  loves  us."  "  Get  me  a  book  that 
tells  how  I  can  get  rid  of  my  load  of  sin."  So  they 
commissioned  them  and  sent  them.  "We  went  out  of 
the  gate  of  the  city  and  turned  into  the  pathway 
where  my  carts  had  gone — native  carts  with  solid 
wooden  wheels,  drawn  by  young  buffaloes. 

We  walked  on  for  a  time,  they  asking  earnest  ques- 
tions and  I  answering  them,  when  they  said,  "Sir, 
we  are  going  no  faster  than  the  carts  are  ;  would  you 
mind  cantering  on  to  overtake  the  carts  and  stop 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  6l 

them  ;  and  then  you  must  talk  to  us  some  more."  I 
put  spurs  to  my  horse  and  rode  on. 

I  had  gone  perhaps  a  mile  and  a  quarter 
and  got  into  a  thick  jungle  that  intervened  be- 
tween one  town  and  the  next  village,  and  was 
passing  up  a  little  tortuous  cart-track  through 
the  jungle  when  I  heard  the  step  of  a  powerful 
horse  approaching  me  from  the  rear.  I  had  been 
warned  that  in  just  such  a  place  as  that  I  would  be 
assassinated.  Thinking  it  always  safest  to  face  the 
danger,  if  there  be  danger,  I  stopped  my  horse  on 
one  side  of  the  path  and  turned  around  and  waited 
for  the  approach.  Soon,  around  a  bend  in  the  road, 
I  saw  a  powerful  Arab  charger  coming  with  a  saddle 
and  bridle  bedecked  with  ornaments  of  silver  and 
gold.  Its  rider  had  a  turban,  with  gold-lace  trim- 
mings, and  with  a  necklace  of  pearls  around  his 
neck,  with  a  jacket  of  India  satin  interwoven  with 
threads  of  metallic  gold.  He  rode  rapidly  on,  and 
apparently  was  about  passing  me  when  he  saw  me, 
and  pulling  up  his  horse  almost  on  to  his  haunches, 
he  said : 

"Are  you  the  man  that  has  been  in  my  town  this 
morning  with  this  strange  teaching?"  I  said,  "I 
have  been  in  the  town  of  Peberi,  sir." 

We  had  been  told  that  this  town  was  the  summer 
residence  of  a  petty  Rajah,  a  feudatory  of  the  Mzam 
of  Hyderabad,  but  that  at  that  season  of  the  year  the 


62      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  V£das 

Rajah  was  at  his  other  capital.  He  said  to  me,  for 
it  was  the  Kajah  himself,  "I  came  in  late  last  night 
from  my  other  capital.  I  suppose  the  people  did  not 
know  I  was  there,  as  I  got  in  so  late  last  night  and 
we  were  not  stirring  when  your  people  came  so  early. 
I  suppose  those  were  your  men  that  came  about  sun- 
rise with  the  books  ;  but  some  of  my  courtiers  were 
astir,  and  bought  some  of  the  books  and  brought 
them  to  the  palace,  and  we  were  so  busy  reading  the 
books  that  we  did  not  know  there  was  any  second 
gathering  in  the  streets.  I  wish  I  had  known  it,  I 
would  have  sent  out  and  asked  you  to  come  to  the 
palace  to  tell  us  the  news  there ;  but  when  you  had 
gone  they  brought  some  larger  books,  saying  that  the 
white  man  himself  had  been  there  and  given  them 
those  books,  and  I  was  so  anxious  to  see  you  that  I 
ordered  my  swiftest  horse,  and  I  have  outridden  all 
my  courtiers,  as  you  see,  to  overtake  you.  Now,  tell 
me  all  about  it.  Is  it  true  f  Is  there  a  Saviour  that 
can  save  us  from  our  sin  ?  "  We  rode  on  together,  I 
on  a  little  scraggy  country  pony  that  had  cost  me 
thirty  dollars,  looking  up  to  him  on  his  magnificent 
Arab  charger  worth  a  thousand,  and  as  I  trotted 
along  talking  with  him,  I  could  not  help  thinking  of 
Philip  and  the  Eunuch ;  and  I  tried  as  earnestly,  I 
believe,  as  Philip  did  to  tell  my  companion  of  Him 
of  whom  Moses  in  the  law  and  the  prophets  did 
speak,  even  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  Saviour  of  all 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  63 

those  in  all  the  world  that  would  believe  in  Him. 
Finally  we  overtook  the  cart. 

"Now,  sir,"  said  he,  "let  me  have  one  copy  of 
every  book  you  have  ;  I  don't  care  what  the  price  is, 
I  will  pay  for  them." 

One  box  after  another  was  opened.  He  took  out  a 
book  about  the  size  of  a  small  pulpit  Bible,  and 
said  he,  "What  book  is  that? "  " That  is  the  holy 
Bible,  the  '  Satya  V6da,J  or  true  V6da,  in  the  Telugu 
language," — the  language  in  which  we  were  con- 
versing. "Give  me  that,"  and  down  it  went  on  the 
ground. 

He  took  up  another,  of  one-third  the  size.  "What 
is  that?"  "That  is  the  New  Testament  in  the 
Kanarese  language."  "Give  me  that;"  and  down 
it  went. 

"What  is  that?" — taking  up  another.  "That  is 
the  New  Testament  in  the  Hindustani  language." 
"Give  me  that." 

"What  is  that?"  "That  is  the  New  Testament 
in  the  Tamil  language."  "  Give  me  that.'' 

"What  is  that?"  "That  is  the  New  Testament 
in  the  Marathi  language.  But,"  said  I,  "you  don't 
want  all  those,  for  this  large  one  contains  the  whole 
story.  These  others  contain  part,  the  best  part,  to 
be  sure,  of  the  large  one,  in  the  different  languages. 
But  it  is  the  same  thing,  verse  for  verse  and  word  for 
word,  only  that  each  is  in  a  different  language.  You 


64      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vedas 

know  the  Telugu  language  best.  If  you  take  the 
large  one  in  that  language  you  have  the  whole  ; "  for 
I  wished  to  save  some  of  my  books  for  use  further  on 
in  my  journey. 

" No,"  said  he ;  "if  you  were  to  be  here  so  that  I 
could  ask  questions,  that  large  one  would  be  enough 
for  me,  but  you  are  not  going  to  be  here,  so  I  shall 
have  no  one  to  ask  questions  of,  and  I  will  take  it 
and  read  it  in  the  Telugu  language,  and  will  perhaps 
not  quite  understand  it,  then  I  will  take  it  in  the 
Kanarese  language,  for  I  can  read  that  just  as  well, 
and  it  will  be  a  little  differently  expressed,  and  by 
comparing  the  two  I  will  understand  it ;  if  not,  then 
I  will  read  it  in  the  Hindustani  language,  and  com- 
paring the  three  I  will  understand  it  better ;  or  in 
the  Marathi,  or  Tamil,  language,  and  comparing  the 
four  or  five  I  shall  be  able  to  understand  it  all,  for  I 
have  those  about  me  who  can  read  them  all.  I  don't 
care  what  you  ask  for  them,  only  let  me  have  the 
books,  I  will  pay  for  them."  So  he  took  them  all. 

In  the  meantime  there  came  up  the  deputation  from 
Peb&i  desiring  to  know  more  of  the  new  teaching. 
I  found  that  a  Brahman  whom  I  had  noticed  very 
particularly  was  the  prime  minister  of  the  Eajah,  his 
general  manager,  or  Mantri,  as  they  call  it  in  India, 
and  the  son  was  being  educated  to  succeed  him  in 
office.  They  asked  earnest  questions,  and  kept  me 
answering  question  after  question  and  explaining  the 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  65 

books  for  an  hour  and  three-quarters,  there  in  the 
road,  before  they  would  allow  our  oxen  to  be  hitched 
on  to  pursue  our  journey.  When  they  had  bought 
and  paid  for  their  books,  and  at  last  had  consented 
that  we  should  pursue  our  journey,  we  bade  them 
good-bye.  But  as  we  went  on  our  way  we  could  not 
help  thinking  of  them  and  their  earnest  questions, 
and  wondering  whether  the  words  thus  scattered  had 
done  any  good.  We  journeyed  on,  however,  and  at 
last  after  five  months  we  came  around  to  our  homes, 
stricken  down  by  disease,  to  be  sure,  that  we  had 
contracted  in  those  jungles,  but  all  of  us  were  alive. 
We  came  back  to  our  homes,  and  still  we  could  not 
forget  those  people.  We  wondered  whether  in  that 
town,  where  they  had  so  gladly  met  us  and  heard  us 
preach  Christ,  there  would  be  any  fruit  from  the  seed 
we  had  scattered. 

Three  years  passed  by,  years  of  sickness  with  me, 
as  it  happened,  resulting  from  that  journey,  for  I  had 
not  yet  recovered  from  it.  We  were  still  thinking 
of  and  praying  for  them,  when  the  Lord  allowed  us 
to  hear  news  from  them.  A  chance  traveller  came 
that  way,  not  a  chance  traveller,  nothing  ever 
happens  by  chance.  God  ordered,  for  the  strength- 
ening of  our  faith,  and  perhaps  that  of  others,  that  a 
Christian  traveller  should  come  down  through  that 
unfrequented  way,  and  that  he  should  be  overtaken 
by  night  at  that  very  town  of  Peberi.  He  was  a 


66      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  V£das 

half-caste,  half-Portuguese  and  half-Hindu.  He 
stopped  in  the  rest-house  built  for  travellers  by  the 
gate  of  the  city.  In  the  evening  that  very  Mantri, 
the  Rajah's  prime  minister,  hearing  that  there  was  a 
stranger  there  who  dressed  and  appeared  differently 
from  his  people,  came  out  to  meet  him,  and  said  he, 
"  Stranger,  you  seem  to  have  come  from  a  distance  ; 
do  you  know  anything  of  the  people  they  call  Chris- 
tians I" 

11  Yes,  I  am  one  myself." 

"  Are  you  ?  I  am  glad  of  it.  Stranger,  do  you 
know  anything  about  a  white  man  that  came  through 
here  three  years  ago,  in  the  month  of  August,  with  a 
book  that  he  called  the  'True  V&la,'  telling  about 
the  Divine  Redeemer,  that  he  called  '  Yesu  Xristu '  f  " 
(The  Telugu  for  Jesus  Christ.)  "  Yes,  Dr.  Chamber- 
lain is  the  only  missionary  that  has  ever  been  through 
here  preaching.  He  came  this  way  about  three  years 
ago."  "Do  you  know  himt  Have  you  ever  seen 
him  ?  Is  he  living  now  t  and  will  you  ever  see  him 
again  ?  "  "  Yes,  I  met  him  years  ago  away  up  north, 
and  in  about  a  month  I  shall  pass  within  a  few  miles 
of  where  he  is  now  living." 

Said  he,  "If  you  get  as  near  him  as  that,  you  turn 
out  of  your  way  and  find  him,  for  I  want  you  to  carry 
him  a  message. 

"  Tell  him  that  from  the  day  he  was  here,  neither 
my  son  nor  I  have  ever  worshipped  an  idol.  Tell 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  67 

him  that  every  day  we  read  in  that  New  Testament 
that  he  left  with  us,  and  every  day  we  kneel  and 
pray  to  that  Yesu  Kristu,  of  whom  he  taught  us,  and 
tell  him  that  through  His  merits  we  hope  to  meet 
him  in  heaven.  Tell  him  the  Eajah  has  the  Bible 
read  every  day  in  his  palace,  and  we  think  that  he, 
too,  at  heart,  is  a  believer  in  Jesus.  Tell  him  we 
hope  to  meet  him  by  and  by  when  we  can  tell  him 
all  about  it,  saved  because  he  came  here  and  brought 
us  those  Bibles  :  but  if  you  go  anywhere  near  him 
you  turn  out  of  your  way  and  find  him,  and  give  him 
this  message  now,  for  it  will  do.him  good." 

And,  oh,  friends,  it  did  do  me  good.  When  I 
heard  that  message  I  forgot  the  difficulties  and  perils 
of  that  journey.  I  forgot  how  we  had  been  sur- 
rounded by  tigers  at  night,  keeping  the  camp-fires 
burning  bright  while  we  heard  them  roaring  for  prey 
in  the  jungles  around  us.  I  forgot  how  I  had  been 
swept  away  in  the  river.  I  forgot  how  we  had  been 
taken  by  the  jungle-fever  and  deserted  by  all  our 
coolies.  I  could  not  remember  any  of  these  things 
then.  I  thought  of  souls  redeemed,  and  heaven's 
mansions  peopled,  and  I  said,  "If  in  that  one  village 
the  Bible  has  done  this,  why  not  in  hundreds  of 
other  villages  where  we  have  left  it  ?  " 

Aye,  methinks  I  can  see  the  throng  assembled 
around  the  great  white  throne,  and  it  may  be,  that 
among  that  throng  some  of  those  dusky  sons  or 


68      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  V£das 

daughters  of  India  may  come  to  one  of  you,  who 
read  this,  and  grasping  your  hand,  say  to  you, 
''Brother,  sister,  you  gave  that  dollar  to  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society  that  printed  that  Bible  that  came 
away  out  to  Hyderabad,  and  told  me  how  to  reach 
heaven."  "  Child,  you  gave  that  dime  that  printed 
the  New  Testament  that  told  me  how  to  get  to 
heaven."  And  in  the  gladness  of  that  hour,  oh, 
friends,  will  one  of  us  ever  regret  that  we  have  done 
so  much  for  our  Master  f  Will  we  not  rather  wish 
that  we  had  joined  hands  in  sending  this  word  of 
God  into  every  palace  and  every  hut  on  the  whole 
globe? 

Again,  does  this  Bible  change  the  character  and  the 
lives  of  those  who  embrace  it  ?  Does  it  give  new  motive 
power  ?  I  would  I  could  take  you  to  a  little  village 
near  my  station  where  they  had  embraced  Christianity 
in  a  body  only  a  year  before,  and  where  the  high 
priest  of  the  temple  near  by,  to  whose  revenues  our 
villagers  used  formerly  to  contribute,  came  secretly 
to  me  in  my  tent  and  asked  me,  "  Sir,  will  you  please 
impart  to  me  the  secret :  What  is  it  that  makes  that 
Bible  of  yours  have  such  a  power  over  the  lives  of  those 
that  embrace  it  f  Now,  it  is  only  a  year  since  these 
people  joined  you.  Before  that  they  were  quarrel- 
some, they  were  riotous,  they  were  lazy,  they  were 
shiftless,  as  are  still  the  villagers  around  here,  and 
now  see  what  a  difference  there  is  in  them.  Now 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  69 

they  are  active,  they  are  energetic,  they  are  labor- 
ious, they  never  drink,  they  never  quarrel.  Why, 
sir,  J  joined  in  the  persecution  when  they  became 
Christians,  and  tried  to  stamp  out  Christianity  before 
it  gained  a  foothold  here,  but  they  stood  firm,  and 
now  in  all  the  region  around  here  the  people  all  re- 
spect and  honour  them.  "What  is  it  that  makes  the 
Bible  have  such  a  power  over  the  lives  of  those  that 
embrace  it !  Our  Vedas  have  no  such  power.  Please, 
sir,  give  me  the  secret." 

Again,  does  it  sustain  its  recipients  ? 

Our  first  convert  in  the  new  region,  in  the  Telugu 
country  where  I  went  in  1863,  was  a  young  Brahman. 
We  knew  that  there  was  danger  of  his  being  murdered 
and  tried  to  guard  him.  But  after  a  while — I  will 
not  stop  to  relate  the  story  here — he  was  decoyed 
away  and  taken  over  one  hundred  miles  to  a  town 
where  his  relatives  lived.  He  was  immured  in  a 
close  room.  Nothing  was  left  him  but  a  cloth  around 
his  loins.  In  the  room  there  was  naught  but  a  grass 
mat  for  him  to  lie  on,  with  nothing  to  cover  him. 
Day  by  day  just  a  little  rice  and  salt  was  placed  there 
for  him  to  eat,  just  enough  to  keep  body  and  soul 
together  while  he  was  getting  ready  to  recant,  as  they 
said  ;  and  he  was  told  that  he  should  never  come  out 
alive  unless  he  abjured  his  newfangled  doctrines  and 
came  back  to  orthodox  Hinduism.  His  grandfather, 
a  wealthy  man,  offered  half  his  fortune  to  the  Brah- 


70      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vedas 

mans  if  they  would  reconvert  him.  They  brought 
the  best  logicians,  the  rhetoricians,  and  priests  to 
argue  with  him.  They  had  taken  away  his  Bible. 
They  argued  with  him,  and  kept  him  confined  for 
months.  I  will  not  here  tell  the  thrilling  story  of  his 
escape,  which  is  given  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  but 
at  last  he  got  back  to  us,  all  skin  and  bones ;  he  had 
lost  all  his  flesh,  but  had  not  lost  his  faith  and  his 
trust  in  Jesus,  nor  his  love  for  his  Bible.  He  had 
never  denied  Him.  A  year  after  that  two  of  us 
missionaries  met  his  uncles  who  had  imprisoned  him. 
They  said  to  us,  "Sirs,  what  is  it  in  that  Bible  of 
yours  that  gives  such  strength  and  courage  to  those 
that  embrace  it?  Now,  we  had  that  nephew  of  ours 
right  in  our  power.  We  told  him  that  he  should 
never  get  away  alive  unless  he  renounced  Christian- 
ity, and  there  was  no  probability  that  he  would.  He 
expected  to  die  from  starvation  there ;  but,  sirs, 
every  day,  no  matter  who  were  there,  he  would  kneel 
in  his  cell  and  would  pray  to  that  Tesu  Kristu,  the 
Divine  Eedeemer  that  he  called  God,  and  when  he 
arose  there  was  no  doing  anything  with  him.  You 
never  saw  such  a  stubborn  fellow.  What  is  it  that 
makes  this  Bible  give  such  nerve  and  such  courage 
to  those  that  embrace  it !  " 

Again,  does  this  Bible  quell  opposition?  Is  it  in- 
deed, "  quick  and  powerful "  f 

I  would  I  could  take  you  to  a  scene,  in  that  same 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  71 

kingdom  of  Hyderabad,  that  I  witnessed  many  years 
ago.  There,  in  a  city,  a  walled  town  of  18,000  in- 
habitants, the  people  had  risen  in  a  mob  to  drive  us 
out,  because  we  sought  to  speak  of  another  God  than 
theirs.  We  had  gone  to  the  market-place  and  I  had 
endeavoured  to  preach  to  them  of  Christ  and  His  sal- 
vation, but  they  would  not  hear.  They  ordered  us  to 
leave  the  city  at  once,  but  I  had  declined  to  leave  un- 
til I  had  delivered  to  them  my  message.  The  throng 
was  filling  the  streets.  They  told  me  if  I  tried  to 
utter  another  word  I  should  be  killed.  There  was  no 
rescue ;  they  would  have  the  city  gates  closed,  and 
there  should  never  any  news  go  forth  of  what  was 
done.  I  must  leave  at  once,  or  I  should  not  leave 
alive.  I  had  seen  them  tear  up  the  paving  stones  and 
fill  their  arms  with  them  to  be  ready,  and  one  was 
saying  to  another  :  "  You  throw  the  first  stone  and 
I  will  throw  the  next."  By  an  artifice  I  need  not 
stop  here  to  detail,  I  succeeded  in  getting  permission 
to  tell  them  a  story  before  they  stoned  me,  and  then 
they  might  stone  me  if  they  wished.  They  were 
standing  around  me  ready  to  throw  the  stones  when  I 
succeeded  in  getting  them  to  let  me  tell  the  story  first. 
I  told  them  the  story  of  all  stories,  of  the  love  of  the 
Divine  Father  that  had  made  us  of  one  blood,  who 
"so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only  forgotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  might  not  per- 
ish, but  have  everlasting  life."  I  told  them,  the 


72      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  V6das 

story  of  that  birth  in  the  manger  at  Bethlehem,  of 
that  wonderful  childhood,  of  that  marvellous  life,  of 
those  miraculous  deeds,  of  the  gracious  words  that 
He  spake.  I  told  them  the  story  of  the  Cross,  and 
pictured,  in  the  graphic  words  that  the  Master  Him- 
self gave  me  that  day,  the  story  of  our  Saviour 
nailed  upon  the  Cross,  for  them,  for  me,  for  all 
the  world,  when  He  cried  in  agony,  "My  God, 
My  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me!"  When  I 
told  them  that,  I  saw  the  men  go  and  throw  their 
stones  in  the  gutter  and  come  back,  and  down  the 
cheeks  of  the  very  men  that  had  been  clamouring  the 
loudest  for  my  blood  I  saw  the  tears  running  and 
dropping  off  upon  the  pavement  that  they  had  torn 
up  ;  and  when  I  had  finished  the  story,  and  told  them 
how  He  had  been  laid  in  the  grave  and  after  three 
days  He  had  come  forth  triumphant,  and  had 
ascended  again  to  heaven,  and  that  there  He  ever 
lives  to  make  intercession  for  them,  for  us,  for  all 
the  world,  and  that  through  His  merits  every  one  of 
them  there  assembled  could  obtain  remission  of  sin 
and  eternal  life.  I  told  them  then  that  I  had 
finished  my  story  and  they  might  stone  me  ;  but  no, 
they  did  not  want  to  stone  me  now ;  they  did  not 
know  what  a  wonderful  story  I  had  come  there  to  tell 
them.  They  came  forward  and  bought  eighty  copies 
of  the  Scriptures  besides  the  Gospels  and  tracts,  and 
paid  the  money  for  them,  for  they  wanted  to  know 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  73 

more  of  that  wonderful  Saviour  of  whom  I  had  told 
them. 

Again,  what  do  our  opponents  say  of  the  Bible  f 
those  keen-witted  Brahmans,  who  know  their  own 
V6das,  with  all  their  beauties,  and  are  capable  of 
judging  of  what  they  read.  What  do  these  oppo- 
nents of  ours  say  of  this  book  ?  I  will  tell  you  what 
they  say,  I  will  give  you  the  testimony  of  one  of  their 
Brahmans,  who  was  not  a  Christian. 

I  had  been  delivering  a  series  of  lectures  to  the 
educated  men  in  my  region,  on  their  Ve'das  and  the 
Christian  Scriptures,  compared  and  contrasted.  I 
had  shown  them  by  quotations  from  their  V&las  and 
Shastras,  as  given  in  the  second  chapter  of  this  book, 
that  their  scriptures  too  pointed  out  one  God,  pure 
and  holy  and  good  ;  the  creator  and  preserver,  and 
controller  of  all  things  ;  that  their  scriptures  pointed 
out  man  in  a  state  of  sin  and  rebellion  against  that 
holy  God.  I  had  shown  them  that  their  V&las 
pointed  out  the  fact  that  sinful  man  could  not  be  at 
peace  with  holy  God  until  that  sin  was  in  some  way 
expurgated.  I  had  shown  them  that  their  scriptures 
brought  man  up  to  the  edge  of  the  gulf  that  yawned 
between  sinful  man  and  sinless  God,  and  left  him  there 
yearning  on  the  brink,  anxious  to  get  over,  but  with 
no  means  of  crossing  ;  that  the  Christian  Scriptures 
pointing  out  God  as  a  God  of  purity  and  holiness,  and 
man  in  a  state  of  sin,  had  brought  man  to  the  edge  of 


74      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vedas 

the  same  chasm,  but  that  they,  in  and  through  Jesus 
Christ,  the  God-man,  had  bridged  that  gulf;  that 
Jesus  Christ,  in  His  human  nature  resting  on  man's 
side,  in  His  divine  nature  on  God's  side,  had  bridged 
the  gulf,  and  that  we  could  all  pass  over,  dropping 
our  sins  into  the  chasm  as  we  went,  and  be  at  peace 
with  holy  God.  There  had  been,  in  that  concluding 
lecture,  a  most  profound  silence.  The  room  was 
packed,  and  the  windows,  which  were  all  open,  and 
reached  down  low.  were  filled  with  the  heads  of  those 
standing  outside  who  were  anxious  to  hear.  There 
were  no  Christians  present  except  my  singing  band  ; 
the  audience  were  all  Hindus.  When  I  had  finished, 
by  offering  a  short  prayer  to  the  God  of  the  truth  to 
bring  us  all  to  understand  the  truth,  whatever  it 
might  be,  and  rose  to  leave,  a  Brahman  in  the 
audience — Venkayya,  by  name,  a  minor  official — 
asked  permission  to  say  a  few  words.  I  said  to  my- 
self, "  Now  there  will  be  a  tough  discussion,  for  that 
man  is  the  most  learned  man  in  the  audience,  and  the 
best  reasoner  in  all  the  region."  But  I  determined  to 
stand  my  ground,  for  I  had  reserve  ammunition  that 
I  had  not  yet  used.  I  expected  him  to  attack  me  all 
round,  for  I  had  taken  strong  ground  that  night  as  to 
the  insufficiency  of  their  Ve"das  ;  but,  instead  of  that, 
he  gave  one  of  the  most  beautiful  addresses  that  I 
ever  listened  to  in  any  language.  It  was  so  graphic, 
so  beautiful,  that  I  went  home  and  at  once  wrote  it 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  75 

out  in  the  English  tongue,  preserving  the  phraseology 
and  idiom,  as  far  as  I  could,  and  I  wish  hereto  give  a 
few  sentences  of  the  address  to  show  what  he  thought 
of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  He  said  : 


"  Behold  that  mango  tree  on  yonder  roadside  !  Its 
fruit  is  approaching  to  ripeness.  Bears  it  that  fruit 
for  itself  or  for  its  own  profit  ?  From  the  moment  the 
first  ripe  fruits  turn  their  yellow  sides  towards  the 
morning  sun  until  the  last  mango  is  pelted  off,  it  is 
assailed  with  showers  of  sticks  and  stones  from  boys 
and  men,  and  every  passer-by,  until  it  stands  bereft 
of  leaves,  with  twigs  knocked  off,  bleeding  from  many 
a  broken  branch,  and  piles  of  stone  underneath,  and 
clubs  and  sticks  lodged  in  its  boughs,  are  the  only 
trophies  of  its j oyous  crop  of  fruit.  Is  it  discouraged  ? 
Does  it  cease  to  bear  fruit  ?  Does  it  say,  l  If  I  am 
barren  no  one  will  pelt  me,  and  I  shall  live  in  peace '  I 
Not  at  all.  The  next  season  the  budding  leaves,  the 
beauteous  flowers,  the  tender  fruit,  again  appear. 
Again  it  is  pelted,  and  broken  and  wounded,  but  goes 
on  bearing,  and  children's  children  pelt  its  branches 
and  enjoy  its  fruit. 

"That  is  a  type  of  these  missionaries.  I  have 
watched  them  well,  and  have  seen  what  they  are. 
What  do  they  come  to  this  country  for?  What 
tempts  them  to  leave  their  parents,  friends,  and 
country,  and  come  to  this,  to  them  unhealthy,  cli- 
mate ?  Is  it  for  gain  or  for  profit  that  they  come  ? 
Some  of  us  country  clerks  in  government  offices  re- 
ceive more  salary  than  they.  Is  it  for  the  sake  of  an 
easy  life?  See  how  they  work,  and  then  tell  me. 
No  ;  they  seek,  like  the  mango  tree,  to  bear  fruit  for 
the  benefit  of  others,  and  that,  too,  though  treated 
with  contumely  and  abuse  from  those  they  are  bene- 
fiting. 

"Now,  what  is  it  makes  them  do  all  this  for  usT 


76      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vedas 

It  is  their  Bible.  I  have  looked  into  it  a  good  deal 
at  one  time  and  another,  in  the  different  languages 
I  chance  to  know.  It  is  just  the  same  in  all  lan- 
guages. The  Bible ! — there  is  nothing  to  compare 
with  it  in  all  our  sacred  books  for  goodness,  and 
purity,  and  holiness,  and  love,  and  for  motives  of 
action. 

"  Where  did  the  English-speaking  people  get  all 
their  intelligence,  and  energy,  and  cleverness,  and 
power!  It  is  their  Bible  that  gives  it  to  them.  And 
now  they  bring  it  to  us  and  say,  '  This  is  what  has 
raised  us ;  take  it  and  raise  yourselves ! '  They  do 
not  force  it  upon  us,  as  the  Mohammedans  did  with 
their  Koran,  but  they  bring  it  in  love,  and  translate 
it  into  our  languages  and  lay  it  before  us,  and  say, 
1  Look  at  it ;  read  it ;  examine  it,  and  see  if  it  is  not 
good.'  Of  one  thing  I  am  convinced :  do  what  we 
will,  oppose  it  as  we  may,  it  is  the  Christian's  Bible 
that  will,  sooner  or  later,  work  the  renovation  and 
regeneration  of  this  land." 

"Verily,  their  rock  is  not  as  our  rock,  even  our 
enemies  themselves  being  judges." 

The  Bible  has  always  had  its  enemies ;  so  has 
everything  that  is  good,  in  the  moral  or  physical 
world.  In  Eobert  Fulton's  time  the  wiseacres  of  his 
day  proved  to  a  demonstration,  as  they  thought,  that 
his  invention  of  a  steamboat  was  worthless ;  that  the 
plan  was  faulty ;  the  machinery  was  defective,  and 
that  it  could  not  work.  But  when,  on  the  rnoruiug 
set  for  its  trial,  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  Eiver  were 
lined  with  the  anxious  throng  who  had  come  to  see 
it  put  to  the  test ;  when  the  steam  was  turned  on, 
and  the  wheels  began  to  revolve,  and  the  boat  glided 


The  Bible  Tested  in  India  77 

out,  cutting  its  way  through  the  placid  waters  of  the 
river,  shout  on  shout  from  river-bank  and  window 
and  roof  rent  the  sky.  What  did  they  care  for  the 
demonstrations  of  the  wise  men  ?  The  steamer  worked, 
and  that  was  enough. 

So  we  will  let  the  so-called  wise  men  of  this  day 
prove  to  their  own  satisfaction  that  the  Bible  is 
worthless.  But  so  long  as  it  works — redeeming,  ele- 
vating mankind,  causing  the  moral  desert  to  blossom  as 
the  rose,  so  long  we  will  stand  by  it,  so  help  us,  God ! 
It  has  had  attacks  before,  and  has  survived  them. 
At  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  there  were 
those  who,  after  demonstrating,  as  they  said,  that  it 
was  antiquated,  and  defective,  and  effete,  prophesied 
that  before  the  middle  of  the  next  century  it  would 
be  found  only  on  the  shelves  of  the  antiquarian ; 
but  yet  it  survives  and  works.  And  while  your  ex- 
istence and  your  names,  oh,  enemies  of  the  Bible, 
are  fading  from  the  remembrance  of  mankind — veri- 
fying the  prophecy  contained  in  that  Word,  that, 
( 'the  memory  of  the  wicked  shall  rot" — the  Bible 
that  you  despised,  translated  since  your  day  into 
over  four  hundred  languages,  is  coursing  through  the 
world,  conquering  and  to  conquer,  till  all  the  earth 
shall  be  subject  to  its  sway. 

Brothers,  sisters,  friends,  we  have  this  Bible.  It  is 
our  priceless  heritage.  Let  us  read  it  more.  Let  us 
study  it  more.  Let  us  love  it  more.  Let  us  live  it  more  / 


78      Book  that  Shall  Supplant  the  Vedas 

and  let  us  join  hands  in  giving  it  to  all  Hie  world,  to  every 
creature. 

This  is  the  book  that  can,  and  will,  supplant  the  Vedas 
and  lift  the  Hindus  up  to  God. 


IV 

THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  WORLD,  WHAT  IT  IS,  AND 
HOW  IT  IS  PENETRATING  INDIA 

WE  propose  now  to  spend  a  little  time  in 
considering  "  The  Light  of  the  World  ! " 
What  it  is ;  how  it  is  made  effective  in 
dispelling  the  world's  spiritual  darkness ;  and  how 
the  believers  share  in  the  work  and  in  the  consum- 
mation. 

Jesus  said,  as  recorded  by  John,  "  I  am  the  light 
of  the  world." 

Jesus  said,  as  recorded  by  Matthew,  "  Ye  are  the 
light  of  the  world." 

The  Psalmist  said,  "  Thy  word  is  a  light  unto  my 
path." 

About  the  middle  of  the  third  year  of  our  Lord's 
ministry,  or  in  the  October  before  the  April  of  His 
crucifixion,  occurred  the  Feast  of  the  Tabernacles. 
He  had  been  for  the  most  part  of  a  year  in  Galilee. 
His  brethren  there  who  did  not  half  believe  in  His 
Messianic  pretensions,  challenged  Him  to  go  up  to 
Jerusalem,  to  that  feast,  and  there  perform  His 
mighty  works  and  there  openly  proclaim  His  real 
character  and  His  claims. 

79 


8o  The  Light  of  the  World 

His  reply  was,  "Go  ye  up  unto  this  feast,  I  go  not 
up  yet."  But,  as  St.  John  tells  us,  "now  about  the 
midst  of  the  feast  Jesus  [having  reached  Jerusalem] 
went  up  into  the  temple  and  taught." 

The  multitude  of  worshippers  at  that,  the  great 
Harvest  Festival  of  the  Jews,  had  come  up  from  all 
the  cities  of  Judea  and  Galilee,  yea  of  Asia  Minor, 
of  Greece,  of  Rome,  and  from  Alexandria  and  the 
cities  of  Egypt,  and  from  all  parts  of  the  then  known 
world. 

The  assembled  people  were  amazed  at  the  tenor 
and  at  the  boldness  of  our  Lord's  preaching  and  at  the 
challenge  which  He  threw  down,  "If  any  man  will 
do  God's  will,  he  shall  know  of  My  doctrine  whether 
it  be  of  God." 

The  Pharisees  and  chief  priests  had  wondered 
whether  He  would  dare  even  to  come  to  the  feast. 
Now,  astonished  beyond  measure  at  His  boldness,  and 
at  the  hold  He  had  gained  over  the  listeners  in  the 
temple,  they  had  sent  officers  to  arrest  Him. 

Not  intimidated  by  the  presence  of  the  soldiery,  as 
we  read  in  the  thirty-seventh  verse,  "  On  the  last  day, 
the  great  day  of  the  feast,  Jesus  stood  and  cried,  say- 
ing, If  any  man  thirst  let  him  come  unto  Me  and 
drink,"  and  added :  "He  that  believeth  on  Me,  as 
the  Scripture  hath  said,  from  within  him  shall  flow 
rivers  of  living  water." 

The  officers  who  had  been  sent  for  His  arrest  stood 


LAYING  THE  CORNER  STONES  FOR  AMERICAN 
COLLEGE  BUILDINGS  IN  INDIA 

Present  at  the  services  were  American  and  Indian  guests,  English  and  Indian  officials, 
and  well-known  missionaries  from  all  parts  of  India 


How  it  is  Penetrating  India  81 

listening  to  these  and  the  other  gracious  words  that  He 
spoke  for  a  little  and  then  slinking  away  without 
making  the  arrest  gave  in  their  report  to  the  chief 
priests,  declaring,  "  Never  man  spoke  like  this  man." 

So  thought  the  multitude  that  remained  in  the 
temple  listening  to  His  voice,  and  were  hushed,  and 
in  that  hush  the  Nazareue,  in  loving,  convincing 
tones,  set  forth  His  supreme  claim.  Divinity  could 
go  no  farther.  "I  am  the  light  of  the  world.  He 
that  followeth  Me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness  but 
shall  have  the  light  of  life.  I  am  the  Light  of  the 
World." 

To  the  world  buried  in  the  darkness  of  sin,  of  un- 
belief, of  ignorance  as  to  God,  as  to  man,  his  origin, 
condition,  needs  and  destiny,  Christ  came  to  give  the 
true  light,  for  He  declares,  "I  am  come  a  light  into 
the  world  that  whoso  believeth  on  Me  should  not 
abide  in  darkness." 

He  reveals  God  to  the  waiting  world,  "For  in 
Him  dwellethall  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily." 
He  Himself  proclaimed,  "  He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath 
seen  the  Father  afeo." 

Not  alone  to  His  countrymen  nor  to  the  men  of  His 
day  was  He  a  light : — Isaiah  saw  His  coming  afar, 
and  sounded  out  Jehovah's  decree,  "  I  will  give  Thee 
.  .  .  for  a  light  to  the  Gentiles."  Good  old 
Simeon,  taking  the  infant  Jesus  in  his  trembling 
arms  and  blessing  God,  declared  Him  to  be  "  a  light 


82  The  Light  of  the  World 

to  lighten  the  Gentiles,"  and  in  that  light  we  distant 
Gentiles  are  now  permitted  to  bask :  and  when  the 
number  of  the  redeemed  shall  be  completed,  the  elect 
from  every  kingdom  and  tribe  and  language,  gath- 
ered in  the  New  Jerusalem,  shall  dwell  forever  in  the 
sunlight  of  His  countenance,  for  they  shall  have  no 
need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon, — for  "the 
Lamb  is  the  light  thereof." 

But  this  Christ,  the  Wonderful,  the  Counsellor, 
the  Eevealer  of  the  things  of  God,  gave  utterance, 
on  another  occasion,  to  a  teaching  that  had  to  the  ear 
a  distinctly  different  sound. 

During  His  Galilean  ministry,  as  recorded  by  Mat- 
thew in  the  fourth  chapter,  after  choosing  His  twelve 
apostles,  as  we  are  told  in  verse  twenty-three  and  on, 
a  Jesus  went  about  all  Galilee  teaching  in  their  syna- 
gogues, and  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  and 
healing  all  manner  of  sickness  among  the  people,"  and 
there  followed  Him  great  multitudes  of  people  ;  and 
seeing  these  multitudes  He  went  up  into  a  mountain 
(leaving  the  people  at  its  foot)  and  when  He  had  sat 
down  Sis  disciples  came  unto  Him."  It  was  thus  to 
a  company  of  believers  that  He  preached  that  won- 
derful sermon  that  is  still  the  marvel  of  the  whole 
world,  as  it  is  the  inspiration  of  all  who  receive  Him 
— "  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount." 

After  proclaiming  to  them  the  blessedness  of  hu- 
mility, of  meekness,  of  mercy,  of  purity,  of  peace 


How  it  is  Penetrating  India  83 

even  coupled  with,  persecution,  He  electrified  them 
with  the  startling  declaration,  "  Te  are  the  light  of  the 
world."  u  Let  your  light  shine  I " 

When  Christ  declares,  "I  am  the  light  of  the 
world,"  we  yield  ready  and  glad  assent.  We  can 
measurably  apprehend  that  declaration. 

But  how  can  we  fathom  the  mystery,  how  can  we 
yield  assent,  when  He  says,  "  Yet" — finite,  mortals, 
sinners,  "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world"  ? 

The  mystery  is  profound,  and  only  God's  word  can 
reveal  it.  That  does  give  us  the  key. 

In  the  account  of  the  creation,  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis,  at  the  sixteenth  verse,  we  are  told,  "and 
God  made  two  great  lights  .  .  .  and  God  set  them 
in  the  firmament  of  the  heaven  to  give  light  upon  the 
earth,  and  to  rule  over  the  day,  and  over  the  night 
.  .  .  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good." 

Thus  was  proclaimed  the  creation  of  the  sun  and 
the  moon.  So  radically  different  and  yet  both  are 
called  " great  lights."  One  has  light  in  itself.  The 
other  has  none.  It  can  shine  only  by  a  borrowed 
light,  and  yet,  for  the  light  of  both  the  same  Hebrew 
word  is  used,  for  it  is  the  same  light.  The  moon's 
light  is  the  light  of  the  sun,  only  mirrored  back  by 
the  moon. 

So  it  is  with  Christ  and  the  believer.  In  the 
original  Greek  no  lesser  word  is  used  for  light  when 
Christ  says  :  "Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world,"  than 


84  The  Light  of  the  World 

when  He  said,  "  I  am  the  light  of  the  world, "for  it 
is  the  same  light.     In  both  cases  it  is  Christ's  light. 

We,  you  and  I,  poor,  ignorant,  weak,  erring  crea- 
tures of  a  day  that  we  are,  we  stood  appalled  when 
we  first  heard  Him  say,  "Ye  are  the  light  of  the 
world,"  for  we  knew  how  utterly  impossible  it  was 
for  us,  of  ourselves,  to  emit  any  spiritual  light. 

But  when  the  Master  whispers  to  us,  "  Ye  shall  be  j 
moons  to  Me,  the  sun  ;  to  reflect  back  My  light  in  the 
dark  places  of  the  world  around  you,"  then  do  we,  / 
dazzled  indeed  by  the  glory,  yet  with  glad  rejoicing,  | 
lift  up  our  hearts  in  thanksgiving  to  Him  who  has' 
placed  upon  us  such  exceeding  honour,  while  with 
earnest  petition  we  pray  that  we  may  be  given  grace 
to  fulfill  our  exalted  function. 

The  prophets  saw  the  glory  of  that  Sun  about  to 
dawn.  Malachi  perceived  and  proclaimed  with 
clarion  tone  those  to  whom  it  should  appear,  for  he 
said,  "  Unto  you  that  fear  My  name  shall  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  arise." 

To  none  others  was  He  thus  to  appear. 

To  no  unbeliever  can  Christ  be  the  Sun  of  Right- 
eousness. 

In  a  general  sense,  He  has  indeed  been  a  great  light 
to  all  the  world.  "Well  and  truly  may  we  say  :  "  The 
people  which  sat  in  darkness  saw  a  great  light." 

Through  Him  :  His  influence  in  matters  physi- 
cal, moral,  social,  commercial,  political,  yes,  and  re- 


How  it  is  Penetrating  India  85 

ligious,  too,  have  the  remotest  nations  even,  though 
non- Christian,  been  already  touched,  aided,  uplifted, 
benefited.  Through  Him  has  there  been  in  all  the 
world  some  alleviation  of  the  darkness  and  the  burden 
of  sin,  but  this  is  incidental  to,  is  an  outcome  of,  that 
spiritual  light  with  which  He  shines  into  those  who 
believe  in  Him. 

That  brilliancy,  that  glory,  the  believer  alone  can 
catch,  can  receive  within,  can  mirror  back  upon  the 
world,  and  that  is  the  believer's  first  duty  and  first 
joy. 

Christ  said,  "  Ye,"  believers,  for  He  spoke  to  His 
disciples :  not  to  the  strong  only,  but  to  the  weak, 
for  Peter  was  there  :  not  to  the  wise  only,  but  to  the 
unlearned,  for  they  were  simple  fishermen,  "Ye  are 
the  light  of  the  world."  "Let  your  light  shine." 
"  Let  your  light  so  shine  that  men  may  .  .  . 
glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  We  are 
each  to  shine  back  His  glory — not  to  shine  forth  our 
own.  Each  to  be  a  true  moon  to  Christ,  the  sun. 

But  here  there  is  a  real  difference  to  note  :  the 
earth's  moon  has  phases.  It  is  to  each  part  of  the 
earth's  surface,  alternately  full  moon  and  dark.  It 
varies,  it  must  vary,  in  the  light  that  it  can  give  to  one 
spot.  It  is  not  its  fault  that  it  does  so.  It  is  its  law  ; 
for  the  earth  has  but  one  physical  moon  to  cheer  the 
night  on  its  alternate  sides. 

In  the  spiritual  world  there  is  no  necessarily  dark- 


86  The  Light  of  the  World 

ening  revolution.  The  enlightening,  vivifying  rays 
of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  are  always  shining  out, 
seeking  to  flood  with  light  the  soul  of  the  believer 
and  to  be  reflected  back  from  that  soul. 

It  is  we,  it  is  we,  that  allow  ourselves  to  be  dark- 
ened by  unnecessarily  intervening  clouds  of  indiffer- 
ence, of  disobedience  or  neglect  of  duty,  of  unbelief. 
It  is  not  God's  plan  for  us  that  we  should  ever  inter- 
mit to  shine  back  the  Saviour's  light,  nor  that  we 
should  ever  shine  with  feeble  or  perverted  ray. 

To  the  natural  sun  the  moon  is  really  a  great  mir- 
ror, mirroring  back  the  sun's  rays  upon  the  earth. 
The  true  believer  stands  thus  related  to  Christ.  He 
is  a  mirror  for  reflecting  back  the  image  of  the  Christ 
to  those  who  have  not  themselves  beheld  His  glory, 
to  any  who  may  need  such  light,  the  ideal  light  of 
Christ,  illustrated  and  made  more  appreciable  by 
passing  through  the  medium  of  human  thought  and 
action.  Full  many  a  soul  too  dulled  to  take  in  the 
undimmed  glory  of  Immanuel  can,  and  does,  com- 
prehend it  when  filtered  through  the  life  of  a  fellow 
mortal. 

Paul  had  hold  of  the  same  idea  when  he  wrote  to 
the  Corinthians,  "Ye  are  our  Epistle,  known  and 
read  of  all  men."  Christianity,  in  the  abstract,  men 
find  difficulty  in  grasping,  Christianity  in  the  con- 
crete, as  manifested  in  the  life  of  a  true  believer,  they 
can  comprehend  :  yes,  and  be  moved  thereby. 


How  it  is  Penetrating  India  87 

We  then,  fellow  believers,  are,  by  the  Divine  de- 
cree constituted  as  mirrors  of  Christ  to  the  world 
around  us.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  Christ  declares : 
1 '  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world, ' '  and  adds,  ' '  Let  your 
light  shine!"  As  mirrors  then  we  may  test  our- 
selves. 

We  doubtless  all  remember  with  what  childish 
glee  we  used  to  behold  ourselves  reflected  in  the 
curved  side  of  some  brightly  polished  metallic  teapot 
or  coffee  urn,  at  one  moment  finding  our  image  drawn 
out  to  a  supernatural  length,  with  no  breadth,  and 
anon,  our  cheeks  broadened  out  so  as  to  reach  almost 
from  the  handle  of  the  teapot  to  its  spout,  and  as  we 
have  grown  older,  in  many  a  curved  metallic  surface 
have  we  seen  distorted  and  hideous  visions  of  beaute- 
ous objects. 

I  remember  years  ago  going  into  a  rented  house  in 
the  city  of  Madras,  with  cheap  bazaar  furniture,  and 
standing  before  a  mirror  of  irregular  and  defective 
glass,  imperfectly  silvered  with  impure  quicksilver. 

The  absurdity  and  painfulness  of  the  image  re- 
flected back  held  me  spellbound.  One  cheek  pro- 
truded like  a  glassblower's  :  the  other  was  sunken 
and  wizened.  One  eye  was  round  and  benevolent : 
its  companion  was  small,  sinister  and  malignant. 
The  nose  was  twisted  :  the  mouth  contorted.  It  was 
an  ogre  that  stood  before  me,  where  my  image  should 
have  been,  and  I  said,  "  Alas,  alas,  is  not  this  the  way 


88  The  Light  of  the  World 

in  which  some  of  us  Christians  at  times  throw  back 
the  image  of  our  Master  !  " 

You  and  I,  fellow  believer,  you  and  I  are  taken ; 
it  is  inevitable  that  we  are  taken  as  reflecting  with 
some  accuracy  the  image  of  our  Christ.  Let  it  be  our 
daily  prayer,  our  constant  effort,  that  the  mirror  we 
present  be  not  defective,  cloudy,  soiled  or  warped, 
and  may  we  in  truth  so  let  our  light  shine  before  men 
that  they  may  see  our  good  works — in  imitation  of 
the  Master,  and  so  glorify  our  Father  which  is  in 
heaven. 

The  Apostle  Paul  tells  us  as  in  the  English  revised 
version,  u  we  all  ...  reflecting  as  a  mirror  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  are  transformed  into  the  same 
image." 

Thus  may  we  Christians  be  transformed,  and  in 
verity  become  as  Christ  ordained,  in  some  appre- 
ciable degree  at  least,  "  The  Light  of  the  World." 

Again  we  are  taught  that,  in  a  somewhat  different 
sense,  The  Bible  is  the  Light  of  the  World.  The 
Psalmist  says,  "  Thy  Word,  O  God,  Thy  word  is  a 
light  unto  my  path,"  and  again  he  says,  "  The  entrance 
of  Thy  Word  giveth  Light,"  or  as  the  revised  ver- 
sion has  it,  "  The  opening  of  Thy  Word  giveth  Light." 
St.  Peter  speaks  of  "  The  sure  word  of  Prophecy" 
as  "a  Light  that  shineth  in  a  dark  place," and.  David 
says:  "The  Commandment  of  the  Lord  is  pure, 
enlightening  the  eyes,"  while  Paul  writes  to  Timothy 


How  it  is  Penetrating  India  89 

of  "  The  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  one 
icise  unto  Salvation." 

Yes,  in  this  Book,  and  in  this  alone  of  all  books, 
does  light  glow  forth  that  can  make  one  indeed 
"  wise  unto  salvation." 

Other  books  do  contain  light :  God  hath  not  left 
Himself  without  a  witness  in  any  age  or  nation,  and 
for  all  that  there  is  of  light  in  the  sacred  books  of 
non-Christian  religions  are  we  missionaries  devoutly 
thankful.  But  that  light  is  now  uncertain  and  mis- 
leading :  it  is  true  but  insufficient.  It  stops  short  of 
the  soul's  direst  need,  and  yet  man  is  so  constituted 
that  he  rejoices  in  any  light.  Well  does  Solomon  say, 
"  Truly  the  light  is  sweet."  It  is  sweet,  whether  it 
be  spiritual  light  or  natural  light. 

A  Hindu  poet  tells  us  of  a  little  bird  upon  the 
western  coast  of  India  that  builds  its  nest  in  the  tuft 
at  the  top  of  the  tall  Palmyra  tree,  which,  in  a  beau- 
tiful way,  seeks  to  afford  light  and  cheer  to  its  little 
nestlings.  As  the  dreary  nights  of  the  monsoon,  or 
rainy  season,  come  on,  the  mother  bird  flies  afar  in 
the  dusk  in  search  of  a  firefly,  and,  tenderly  bring- 
ing it  in  its  beak  to  its  nest  in  the  lofty  tree,  it  im- 
pales it  gently  in  the  pellet  of  moist  clay  which  it 
has  already  placed  upon  the  side  of  the  nest  and  re- 
tains it  there  throughout  the  long  and  gruesome 
night  to  give  light  to  its  little  birdlings.  The  poet 
tells  us  that,  as  the  dawn  is  breaking,  the  mother 


QO  The  Light  of  the  World 

bird,  grateful  for  the  light  that  has  been  bestowed, 
gently  taking  the  firefly  once  more  in  its  beak,  flies 
back  and  safely  places  it  whence  it  had  brought  it 
away. 

Yes,  the  light  is  sweet,  and  fireflies  do  emit  light, 
but  it  is  sometimes  misleading  and  destructive. 

One  dark  monsoon  night,  thirty  years  ago,  as  I 
was  going  by  the  highway  to  one  of  my  stations,  I 
came  to  a  low  place  with  a  large  unwalled  well  upon 
one  side  and  rice  fields  with  a  ditch  upon  the  other. 
I  knew  the  road  well  and  thought  I  could  follow  it 
even  if  it  were  dark,  but  as  I  came  into  this  hollow, 
the  air  in  the  intense  darkness  was  alive  with  the 
flashes  of  myriads  of  fireflies  circling  all  about  and 
soon  I  found  myself  confused  and  dazzled,  and,  seek- 
ing to  avoid  the  well  on  one  side,  I  tumbled  into  the 
ditch  on  the  other. 

Such  are  many  of  the  flashes  of  light  that  sparkle 
out  from  the  Sacred  Books  of  the  East :  beautiful  but 
delusive.  Others  there  are,  true  and  helpful,  indeed, 
but,  alas  !  insufficient 

As  given  in  detail  in  another  chapter  I  once,  on  a 
belated  tour  in  India,  as  five  of  us  were  long  waiting 
for  the  arrival  of  our  carts,  with  our  beds  and 
lanterns,  took  a  large  glowworm  which  I  chanced  to 
see  crawling  in  the  grass  at  my  feet  and  making  it 
crawl  slowly  down  the  page  of  my  pocket  Testament, 
by  its  light  I  read  a  chapter  from  the  Divine  Oracles 


How  it  is  Penetrating  India  91 

and  we  knelt  and  commended  ourselves  to  the 
Shepherd  of  Israel  so  as  to  be  ready  to  retire  as  soon 
as  the  carts  should  arrive.  But  who  would  use  the 
glowworm's  feeble  glimmer  when  he  could  have  the 
glorious  light  of  the  Orb  of  Day  ? 

The  light  that  shines  in  the  choicest  of  Eastern 
Books  falls  short  when  the  immortal  soul  is  clamour- 
ing for  more  light,  and  cannot  take  another  step 
without  it. 

The  V6das,  the  Shastras,  the  sages,  the  poets  of 
India,  all  have  such  glimmerings  of  light,  and  we  mis- 
sionaries come  upon  some  such  in  unexpected  places, 
which  have  made  us  glad. 

The  Telugu  farmer  poet,  Y4mana,  who  wrote  some 
seven  centuries  ago  in  the  Cuddapah  District,  and 
who  is  still  the  beloved  of  all  the  Telugus,  descants 
of  God  and  holiness  as  might  a  Paul  or  a  John. 

But  Vemana  never  had  a  conception  of  God  like 
that  of  the  Psalmist,  in  his  exultant  cry,  "  Like  as  a 
father  pitieth  his  children  so  the  Lord  pitieth  them 
that  fear  Him."  He  never  had  a  conception  of  the 
Evangel,  "For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He 
gave  His  only  begotten  Son  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  Him  should  not  perish  but  have  everlast- 
ing life." 

He  did  indeed  long  to  see  God,  and  knew  that  this 
could  not  be  by  the  impure,  for,  as  before  quoted,  he 
said:  — 


92  The  Light  of  the  World 

"  Bat  thine  own  heart  most  thon  make  pure,  and  then  and  then 

alone, 

Shalt  tbou  see  Him  no  eye  hath  kenned  :  shalt  thon  behold  thy 
King." 

He  had  indeed  caught  the  accent  of  the  Beati- 
tude, ''Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  for  they  shall 
see  God,"  but  with  him,  alas!  it  was  "Thine  own 
heart  must  thon  make  pure." 

The  repentant  king  of  Israel  had  pleaded,  "Create 
in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God."  Nicodemus  had  been 
told,  "  Ye  must  be  born  again."  Philip  had  said  to 
the  jailor,  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved."  The  Nazarene  with  winning 
voice  had  called,  "  Come  unto  Me  all  ye  that  labour 
and  are  heavy  laden  and  I  will  give  you  rest/'  and 
Paul  had  shown  that  "in  Him  we  have  redemption 
through  His  blood — the  forgiveness  of  sins  according 
to  the  riches  of  His  grace." 

But  in  no  other  religion  than  that  of  Christ  is  it 
taught  that  God  Himself  will  do  this  for  the  penitent 
believer. 

Aye,  even  in  that  land  of  the  lauded  V£das  has 
it  been  left  that  now  through  the  agency  of  His  mes- 
sengers, should  Christ,  to  that  people  also  bring  life 
and  immortality  to  light  through  the  Gospel.  Thus 
the  Bible  there  and  everywhere  now  and  always  of 
all  books,  is  "The  Light  of  the  World."  In  the 
119th  Psalm  we  read :  — "Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto 


How  it  is  Penetrating  India  93 

my  feet."  Another  version  renders  it  still  more 
aptly,  "Thy  word  is  a  lantern  unto  my  feet." 

A  lantern  can  go  anywhere,  through  wind  and  rain, 
through  desert  and  jungle,  as  well  as  through  humble 
hut  or  stately  palace.  So  it  is  with  the  Bible. 

In  these  days  of  electrical  invention  we  are  told  of 
a  new  electric  lantern  made  to  work  with  a  small 
storage  battery  concealed  in  its  base.  When  closed, 
and  not  in  use,  it  appears  somewhat  like  a  hand 
camera,  a  kodak.  When  its  light  is  wanted,  one  has 
but  to  open  back  one  of  its  sides,  revealing  a  clear 
crystal  slide  beneath  it.  By  the  opening  a  contact  is 
formed  and  an  ample  electric  light  is  emitted,  which 
continues  until  the  outer  door  is  once  more  closed. 

The  lantern  may  be  sent  anywhere.  It  works 
equally  well  thousands  of  miles  from  any  electric 
plant.  No  energy  is  expended  while  it  is  closed  and 
not  at  work.  Could  it  now  be  arranged  that  the 
electricity  of  the  clouds  circulating  all  about  us, 
should  keep  this  storage  battery  forever  charged, 
that  lantern  would  be  in  some  respects  a  fitting  illus- 
tration of  the  working  of  the  Divine  Word,  for  in  the 
105th  verse  we  read,  "  Thy  word  is  a  lantern  to  my 
feet,"  and  in  the  130th  verse,  "The  opening  (E.  V.) 
of  Thy  Word  giveth  light," 

To  show  its  working,  even  after  long  disuse,  on 
being  opened,  let  me  give  an  instance.  Christ  said, 
"Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  Me,"  as  a  witness  to 


94  The  Light  of  the  World 

"The  Light  of  the  World,"  do  I  give  this  illustra- 
tion. 

In  1863,  four  native  assistants  and  myself,  on  a  five 
months'  preaching  tour,  went  up  through  the  till  then 
unvisited  dominions  of  the  Nizam  of  Hyderabad,  to 
preach  and  distribute  Scriptures  and  tracts  through 
the  length  of  his  kingdom.  We  took  two  cart  loads 
of  Bibles,  Scripture  portions,  and  tracts,  in  five 
languages  with  us  for  distribution,  chiefly  by  sale. 

Four  hundred  miles  from  our  starting-point  we 
came  to  Warangal,  the  capital  of  the  old  Telugu 
Empire,  which  was  standing  in  all  its  glory,  its  walls 
being  twenty  miles  in  circuit,  with  a  million  of  in- 
habitants, when  Columbus  discovered  America,  but 
now  for  centuries  decaying,  though  the  old  iron  gates 
still  swing  on  their  hinges.  It  was  the  first  time  the 
Christian  Scriptures  had  been  seen,  or  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  heard,  in  all  that  region. 

We  halted  four  days  in  the  old  capital,  preaching 
in  all  its  remaining  streets  and  suburbs,  and  selling 
the  Divine  Oracles — "  God's  lanterns  "  from  morning 
until  night. 

At  sunrise  each  morning  we  took  several  boxes  of 
books  on  an  open  cart,  and,  mounting  it  ourselves, 
drove  into  the  streets.  Stopping  in  the  centre  of  a 
street  and  all  standing  up  on  the  cart  we  sang  a 
"Gospel  Call"  to  one  of  the  old  but  sweet  Telugu 
melodies  that  have  come  down  through  thirty  gener- 


How  it  is  Penetrating  India  95 

ations  and  thus  gathered  an  audience.  As  it  was  so 
novel  there,  the  people  came  in  crowds.  One  of  my 
assistants  would  read  from  one  of  the  Gospels  and 
explain  it.  I  would  follow,  standing  up  on  the  cart 
to  be  seen  and  heard  of  all,  setting  forth  as  clearly 
and  forcibly  as  I  could,  God's  plan  of  salvation 
through  His  own  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  then,  open- 
ing the  book-boxes,  I  said,  "  Brothers,  we  have  come 
a  long  way  to  tell  you  of  this  Divine  Eedeemer.  We 
cannot  remain  here.  "We  may  never  come  again, 
but  we  have  brought  with  us  the  history  of  this 
' Parama  Guru,'  this  Saviour  of  the  world,  yes,  and 
the  whole  True  Veda,  which  God  has  given  us  to  tell 
us  all  about  Himself  and  how  we  may  get  rid  of  sin 
and  find  Him.  We  will  sell  these  to  you  at  a  mar- 
vellously cheap  price,  for  we  must  go  on.  Here  is  a 
history  of  the  Divine  Redeemer,  the  '  Parama  Guru,' 
written  by  the  physician  Luke.  The  price  is  only 
one  dub  (about  half-a-cent)  ;  who  will  have  one  ?  " 

Out  came  the  wallets  ;  up  came  the  dubs ;  out 
went  the  books  ;  down  from  the  cart  sprang  three  of 
the  native  assistants,  with  arms  full  of  books  and 
pressing  through  the  crowd,  sold  to  the  distant  ones 
as  we  sold  to  those  near  by. 

After  some  twenty  minutes,  another  book  was  ex- 
plained and  then  sold  in  the  same  way,  and  then  the 
Bible  for  fifty  dubs  or  the  New  Testament  for  twenty 
dubs. 


96  The  Light  of  the  World 

When  all  had  purchased  who  wished  to  iu  that 
street,  we  drove  to  another  and  repeated  the  process 
and  so  on  until  eleven  o'clock,  when  we  returned  to 
camp  for  breakfast  and  to  rest  until  4  P.  M.  ;  then  we 
would  go  to  still  other  streets  and  work  on  thus  till 
dark.  Four  days  of  this  work  resulted,  as  my  rec- 
ords show,  in  the  sale  of  1,225  books,  chiefly  Gospels 
and  large  tracts,  but  including  nine  Bibles  and  six 
New  Testaments,  and  we  had  preached  thus  to  forty 
audiences  in  those  streets. 

Twenty -eight  years  passed,  there  came  to  my  house 
at  Madanapalle  a  man  of  twenty-eight  or  thirty  years 
of  age,  of  the  merchant  caste,  with  a  singular  story. 
He  was  from  that  part  of  the  old  Telugu  capital 
where  we  had  sold  the  largest  number  of  books.  He 
may  have  been  an  infant  when  we  were  there ;  he 
may  not  have  been  born  :  he  did  not  know  his  exact 
age.  His  father  had  died  when  he  was  a  child.  His 
father's  brother  had  brought  him  up  as  a  son.  When 
near  twenty  years  of  age  he  was  one  day  rummaging  in 
a  cupboard  of  his  uncle's  house  when  he  came  upon 
an  old  book.  It  was  called  the  "  Kotta  Nibandhana  " 
(the  New  Testament). 

He  asked  his  uncle  about  it. 

"  O  it's  a  book  I  bought  many  years  ago." 

"  Well,  what  is  it  about,  uncle  ?  " 

"They  said,  when  I  bought  it,  that  it  told  of  a 
new  way  of  getting  rid  of  sin." 


How  it  is  Penetrating  India  97 

"  Have  you  read  it  t " 

"No,  after  I  bought  it  I  showed  it  to  our  family 
priest  and  he  persuaded  ine  not  to  read  it.  You  had 
better  not  read  it  either.  Our  fathers'  way  is  good 
enough  for  me,  and  for  you,  too.  Put  it  back  where 
you  found  it." 

The  young  man  put  it  back,  but  every  now  and 
then,  secretly  at  first,  he  took  it  out  and  read  parts 
of  it.  He  became  interested,  then  absorbed.  He 
would  talk  with  his  friends  about  that  Divine  Guru, 
Yesu  Kristu,  and  wanted  to  find  where  he  could  learn 
more  about  Him.  His  uncle  and  friends  became 
alarmed.  They  would  not  have  him  embrace  a  new 
religion.  They  tore  up  and  burned  the  New  Testa- 
ment. They  raised  a  sufficient  purse  and  bade  him 
to  go  on  a  pilgrimage,  first  to  Benares  and  then  to 
the  other  holy  places  of  the  Hindus,  to  reestablish 
his  faith  in  his  own  religion. 

For  two  years  he  thus  wandered  visiting  the  most 
sacred  places  of  the  Hindus.  At  last  he  came  to  the 
holy  mountain  of  Tirupati,  with  those  massive 
temples  on  its  summit,  only  sixty  miles  from  my 
station,  Madanapalle,  and  worshipped  there.  His 
mind  had  become  more  and  more  dissatisfied  with  the 
Hinduism  which  he  saw  exemplified  at  the  successive 
holy  shrines.  He  asked  some  of  the  other  pilgrims 
if  they  had  ever  heard  of  people  who  were  proclaiming 
a  divine  redeemer  whom  they  called  Yesu  Kristu. 


98  The  Light  of  the  World 

At  last  he  found  a  man  who  said,  "  Yes,  there  are 
some  people  of  that  sort  sixty  miles  west  of  here,  at 
Madanapalle,  who  go  all  around  the  country  preach- 
ing about  their  Yesu  Kristu  and  trying  to  make  us 
give  up  our  Gods  and  these  our  holy  shrines.  There 
are  not  many  people  who  believe  them,  but  they  keep 
at  it.  You  keep  clear  of  them  !  Our  father' s  gods  are 
good  enough  for  us,  their  children.  Hari !  Hari ! 
Govinda!  Vishnu!  Jaya"  (to  Vishnu  be  the  victory). 

Secretly,  by  night,  he  slipped  away  and,  walking 
the  sixty  miles  across  the  country,  he  came  to  Madana- 
palle. For  several  days  he  stopped  in  a  native  rest- 
house  in  the  town,  while  reconnoitring  the  ground 
and  making  enquiries  about  these  strange  people  and 
their  teachings.  Finally  he  fell  in  with  one  of  my 
assistants,  one  of  the  very  men  who  had  stood  with 
me  on  the  cart  and  sold  Scriptures  in  the  old  Telugu 
capital  twenty-eight  years  before,  and  with  him  he 
came  to  see  me  and  told  us  his  story.  Earnestly  did 
he  study  God's  word  for  some  weeks  under  our  guid- 
ance, and  then  he  asked  to  be  baptized  into  the  name 
of  that  Yesu  Kristu  whom  he  had  so  strangely  learned 
about  and  had  come  to  love  and  trust. 

As  I  pronounced  the  Triune  name  over  him,  in  the 
holy  ordinance,  I  thanked  God  for  this  new  evidence 
of  the  verity  of  His  promise,  "  My  word  shall  not  re- 
turn unto  Me  void,"  "  For  I  watch  over  My  word  to 
perform  it" 


How  it  is  Penetrating  India  99 

That  was  the  work  of  one  of  these  God-given 
"Lanterns,"  that  had  been  piled  away  with  rubbish 
for  nearly  a  generation,  but  which,  once  opened  out, 
shone  forth  to  the  illuminating  of  at  least  one  human 
soul. 

The  Divine  Word;  a  lantern  that  first  lights  our 
path,  to  be  then,  by  our  agency,  passed  on  to  others, 
emitting  light  to  every  one  in  all  the  world  who  opens 
it  with  desire  ;  this  is  the  agency  for  the  illumination 
of  this  sin-beclouded  world  ;  this  the  enginery  at 
our  command  for  awakening  all  the  dark  lands  of  the 
world  and  uplifting  them  to  Christ. 

How  can  we  make  this  God-appointed  enginery 
still  more  efficient  than  even  in  the  past  for  those 
about  us  ;  for  all  whom  we  can  reach  f 

First  by  ourselves  being  more  Spirit-filled,  and  thus, 
in  the  technical  language  of  the  day,  increasing  our 
own  candle-power. 

The  Christ  about  to  suffer  had  told  His  disciples  : 
"It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away,"  "  but  I 
will  pray  the  Father  and  He  shall  give  you  another 
Paraclete,  that  He  may  be  with  you  forever,  even  the 
Spirit  of  truth."  "  He  shall  teach  you  all  things, 
and  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance,  whatso- 
ever I  have  said  unto  you."  "He  shall  testify  of 
Me  :  and  ye  also  shall  bear  witness." 

The  risen  Christ  announced  to  His  disciples  :  "  Ye 
shall  receive  power  when  the  Holy  Spirit  is  come 


loo  The  Light  of  the  World 

upon  you  :  and  ye  shall  be  My  witnesses  .  .  . 
unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth,"  and  a  tender 
voice  is  wafted  in  upon  us.  "Have  ye  received  the 
Holy  Spirit  ? ' '  Have  ye  received  that  power  ? 

The  Apostle  says  :  "  Your  body  is  the  Temple  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. '  '  Is  that  true  of  you ;  of  me  ?  Will 
we,  by  God's  grace,  make  it  true? 

Stephen,  before  the  Sanhedrim,  was,  we  are  told, 
"full  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  "and  all  that  sat  in  the 
council  looking  steadfastly  on  him  saw  his  face  as  it 
had  been  the.  face  of  an  angel."  God  can  make  this 
true  of  any  one  of  us. 

Nor  is  it  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  that  may  dwell  in 
us.  Paul,  in  his  glowing  prayer  for  his  Ephesian 
converts,  prays,  "that  ye  may  know  the  love  of 
Christ,  that  passeth  knowledge,  that  ye  might  be 
filled  ivith  all  the  fullness  of  God." 

In  that  wonderful  prayer  of  the  Christ  about  to 
suffer,  He  said,  "The  glory  which  Thou  ga vest  Me 
I  have  given  them,  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as  we 
are  one :  I  in  them  and  Thou  in  Me" — the  Father  in 
the  Sou:  the  Son  in  us:  the  "Other  Paraclete" 
abiding  in  us  :  The  Holy  Trinity  thus  making  His 
abode  in  us.  Then  shall  we  be  indeed  true  moons  to 
the  Sun  of  Eighteousness,  with  ever- increasing  bril- 
liancy radiating  back  His  light.  Then  shall  we 
realize  to  those  about  us  the  Saviour's  declaration, 
"  Ye  are  the  Light  of  the  World." 


PRESENTING   CHRIST  TO  THE   HINDUS;    THE 
BRAHMAN  HIGH  PRIEST 

ALL  through  the  country  do  we  missionaries 
go,  presenting  Jesus  Christ  as  the  "Light of 
the  World,"  as  the  only  Saviour  from  sin 
who  can  and  will  save  all  mankind,  if  they  will  but 
accept  Him  as  their  Saviour.  "We  meet  with  varied 
receptions,  and  have  to  present  the  truth  in  different 
ways  to  different  audiences,  of  different  grades  of  in- 
telligence and  diverse  attitudes  of  mind. 

We  endeavour  never  to  abuse  their  gods  nor  need- 
lessly to  attack  their  systems  as  an  angry  man  will  not 
well  listen  to,  or  take  in,  the  truth.  We  seek  to 
present,  with  courtesy  and  kindness  and  love,  a 
higher  truth  than  any  they  have,  satisfied  that  if  that 
truth  finds  an  entrance,  their  system  will  go.  If 
specious  objections  are  brought  forward,  we  some- 
times have  to  turn  aside  and  answer  those  before  they 
will  listen  to  the  truth. 

Sometimes  we  are  received  with  real  courtesy,  but 
more  often  we  are  treated  at  first  with  scorn,  and 
sometimes  with  real  abuse.  We  are  obliged  to  vary 
the  weapons  we  use,  according  to  those  utilized  by 


1O2       Presenting  Christ  to  the  Hindus 

those  who  attack  us,  always  having  however  at  hand 
the  whole  panoply  of  God  to  draw  upon  as  needed, 
for  the  missionary  in  a  close  place  does  reverently 
recognize  sometimes  the  fulfillment  of  the  Saviour's 
promise,  in  Mark  13  :  11,  "  for  it  is  not  ye  that  speak 
but  the  Holy  Spirit." 

I  desire  here  to  give  an  incident  as  a  sample  of  the 
methods  we  use  on  occasion,  though,  as  I  have  said, 
they  are  very  varied. 

Two  of  us  missionaries  were  once  on  a  preaching 
tour  in  the  Telugu  country,  and  had  gone  into  a 
native  state  in  that  part  of  which  missionaries  had 
then  never  before  preached  and  had  pitched  our  tents 
under  a  mango  grove,  just  outside  the  chief  city  gate 
of  the  walled  town  of  Chintamennipet.  We  had 
been  told  that  on  an  eminence  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  city  was  a  famous  school  for  training  young 
Brahmaus  as  priests,  with  a  noted  Brahman  high 
priest  at  its  head. 

Pitching  our  camp  in  the  morning,  we  had  re- 
mained through  the  heat  of  that  August  day  in  our 
tent  under  the  grateful  mango  shade,  and  when  the 
sun  began  to  approach  the  western  horizon  we,  with 
our  native  assistants,  went  through  the  gates  to  the 
market-place  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  and  taking 
our  position  on  the  wide  stone  steps  on  its  north  side, 
we  together  sang  a  rallying  gospel  song  to  one  of  their 
favourite  old  Telugu  tunes,  and,  reading  from  the 


a 


§ 


§1 


81 


S! 


O   J 

^3 


The  Brahman  High  Priest  103 

word  of  God,  we  began  to  preach  to  the  large  throng 
that  had  assembled,  on  God,  and  man,  and  sin,  and 
redemption. 

The  audience  was  listening  attentively  as  we  were 
speaking  of  the  nature  of  sin  and  how  it  could  be  got 
rid  of,  when  down  the  street  leading  from  the  Acrop- 
olis on  which  stood  the  "  school  of  the  prophets,"  we 
saw  approaching  a  venerable  Brahman  priest  in  his 
robes,  surrounded  by  some  thirty  young  Brahmans 
who  seemed  to  be  his  disciples. 

Slowly  approaching  us  through  the  crowd  who 
made  way  for  him  with  his  disciples,  he  came  up  to 
within  a  little  distance  of  the  market  steps  upon 
which  we  were  standing,  and  making  a  snort  of  utter 
scorn,  which  the  Brahman  knows  how  to  do  with 
emphasis,  he  addressed  us,  ' '  Yes,  talk  to  its  about 
sin,  do  you,  you  old  beef -eaters,  you  revilers  of  our 
gods?" 

"  We  have  not  been  reviling  your  gods,  my  vener- 
able friend,"  replied  one  of  the  missionaries;  "ask 
these  people  who  have  been  listening  to  us  ;  but  we 
have  been  courteously  talking  about  the  matter  that 
is  of  the  highest  import  on  earth  or  in  heaven  to 
every  man  that  lives,  and  we  desire  to  go  on  and 
speak  farther  of  that  matter  which  concerns  you  and 
your  disciples  as  well  as  those  that  were  listening, 
but  since  you  have  interrupted  us  we  will,  before  re- 
suming, ask  you  a  few  questions. 


104       Presenting  Christ  to  the  Hindus 

"You  charge  us  with  being  beef -eaters,  as  if  that 
were  the  most  heinous  of  sins.  Now,  will  you  kindly 
tell  us  in  exactly  what  the  heinousness  of  that  con- 
sists ?  Is  it  in  the  taking  away  from  a  creature  the 
principle  of  life,  with  which  it,  has  been  endowed  by 
the  Creator?  for  while  we  are  not  ourselves  in  the  habit 
of  killing  and  eating  beef,  we  acknowledge  that  most 
English  people  in  India  do  so,  and  we  should  like  to 
know  just  in  what  the  essence  of  the  sin  consists.  Is 
it  in  the  depriving  a  living  being  of  the  principle  of 
life  with  which  it  has  been  endowed  by  its  Creator?  " 

"Yes,  that  is  just  it.  You  Europeans  take  life 
and  eat  the  dead  animals  just  to  satisfy  your  own 
appetite." 

"I  understand,"  said  the  missionary,  "the  real  sin 
consists  in  depriving  a  living  creature  of  life.  Now, 
does  it  make  any  difference  how  large  or  how  small 
that  animal  is  ?  Is  the  sin  any  more  heinous  if  one 
kills  an  elephant  than  if  he  kills  a  calf  ?  " 

"  No,  not  at  all,  the  act  is  the  same." 

"You  are  sure,  are  you,  that  the  sin  is  the  same, 
whatever  be  the  size  of  the  living  thing  ?  I  wish  to 
be  clear  on  that  point." 

"Yes,  there  can  be  no  difference  in  the  character 
of  the  act.  The  sin  is  the  same ;  it  can  only  be  in- 
tensified if  one  takes  such  life  for  his  own  benefit  or 
convenience,  or  to  save  him  trouble." 

"My  venerable  friend  !    You  know  not  into  what 


The  Brahman  High  Priest  105 

a  position  this  puts  you.  If  this  be  true  and  you 
wish  to  avoid  heinous  sin,  you  have  but  one  thing  to 
do.  You  must  very  cautiously  and  circumspectly 
pick  your  way  home  and  spread  down  your  mat  and 
lie  down  on  it  and  expire,  for  you  cannot  live  another 
day  without  committing  mortal  sin,  yes,  multitudes 
of  such  sins." 

"Why,  how  is  that!"  said  he,  quite  startled. 

"  I  will  tell  you.  It  is  now  approaching  sunset. 
As  you  turn  to  go  back  to  your  abode  the  sunset- ants 
will  be  running  in  myriads  over  the  streets,  as  is  their 
wont,  for  their  evening  meal,  and,  walk  as  carefully 
as  you  may,  you  will  step  upon  some  of  them  and 
crush  them.  "When  you  reach  your  home  your  wife 
will  spread  down  your  dining  mat  upon  the  floor,  and 
place  your  evening  meal  upon  it,  and  you  will  sit 
down  to  eat,  and  in  doing  so  you  will  inevitably 
crush  some  of  the  many  insects  which,  unseen  by 
your  wife,  were  upon  the  floor  when  she  spread  the 
mat  down.  But,  far  worse  than  that,  in  cooking  that 
delicious  pot  of  rice  and  curry  your  wife  had  used 
many  dried  brattles.  Now,  as  we  all  know,  bratties 
are  made  from  rice  husks  coarsely  mixed  with  cow 
dung,  and  stuck  up  on  the  wall  in  the  sun  to  dry. 
Into  their  interstices  multitudes  of  small  insects 
crawl,  to  avoid  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  remain  in 
their  hiding-places  when  the  brattles  are  dried.  Your 
wife  used  those  dried  bratties  as  fuel  to  boil  your  rice, 


io6      Presenting  Christ  to  the  Hindus 

and  thus  your  evening  meal  was  cooked  by  a  holocaust 
of  living  beings,  which  were  sacrificed  for  the  delecta- 
tion of  your  palate.  Your  wife  brings  to  you  your 
little  brass  water-pot  for  you  to  quench  your  thirst ; 
in  each  drop  of  water  are  multitudes  of  infinitesimal 
living  beings,  animalcules. 

"  If  you  will  bring  a  sample  of  your  choicest  drink- 
ing water  to  our  tent  to-morrow  at  midday  when  the 
sun  is  bright  we  will  show  you  with  our  magnifying 
lens,  or  microscope,  hosts  of  these  infinitesimal  living 
beings,  these  animalcules  in  each  drop  of  water. 
When  you  take  that  water  into  your  stomach  to 
quench  your  thirst  the  gastric  juice  kills  myriads  of 
those  animalcules,  so  that  your  stomach  becomes  a 
veritable  cemetery. 

"  No,  my  friend,  you  cannot  live  another  day  with- 
out destroying  the  principle  of  life  in  some  living 
creatures,  and  you  say  that  it  makes  no  difference 
what  is  the  size  or  character  of  the  living  creature, 
the  taking  away  of  its  life  is  murder.  The  only  thing 
then  for  you  to  do,  if  you  wish  to  avoid  what  you 
have  declared  to  be  mortal  sin,  my  venerable  friend, 
is  for  you  to  have  these  your  disciples  go  before  you 
to  your  home,  very  carefully  sweeping  a  path  before 
you  all  the  way,  and  spread  down  your  mat,  and  ex- 
pire. I  am  telling  you  what  all  learned  men  know  to 
be  true." 

The  venerable  priest  fairly  gasped  as  this  picture 


The  Brahman  High  Priest  107 

was  completed  and  his  group  of  disciples  looked  at 
each  other  with  deep  concern. 

"I  admit,"  said  the  old  Brahman,  after  standing 
thinking  for  a  time,  "  that  you  have  brought  forward 
matter  for  which  I  was  not  prepared.  I  must  have 
time  to  look  up  the  Vedas,  but  I  will  meet  you  here 
again  to-morrow,  at  the  same  hour,  and  then  I  am 
sure  I  can  demolish  you." 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  missionary,  "  we  will  gladly 
waive  that  matter  for  the  present.  When  you  came 
we  were  talking  about  sin  and  how  to  get  rid  of  it, 
and  that,  you  will  admit,  is  the  most  important  ques- 
tion that  can  engage  the  attention  of  mortal  man,  and 
now,  my  venerable  friend,  let  us  resume  its  consid- 
eration, and  see  if  we  cannot  together,  in  a  kindly 
spirit,  find  some  light  upon  the  matter.  I  am  going 
to  ask  you,  as  I  have  asked  many  of  your  venerable 
men,  what  is  the  real  meaning  of  the  Sanskrit  sloka 
that  you  Brahmans  devoutly  chant,  as  you  go  to  the 
river  for  your  daily  ablutions  I  What  you  chant  is 
this,  is  it  not?"  and  the  missionary  chanted  in  the 
rich  Sanskrit : 

"  P&p6ham  p&pakarmaham,  papatma  papa  sambhavaha, 
Tr&himam  krupaya,  deva,  sharana  gata  vatsala. 

"  Is  not  its  real  meaning  this  1  (speaking  in  Telugu), 
1 1  am  a  sinner,  my  actions  are  sinful,  my  soul  is  sin- 
ful, all  that  pertains  to  me  is  polluted  with  sin.  Do 


lo8       Presenting  Christ  to  the  Hindus 

Thou,  O  God,  that  hast  mercy  on  those  who  seek  Thy 
refuge,  do  Thou  take  away  my  sins.'  " 

"Yes,  that  is  it,"  said  he,  with  very  evident 
respect  for  one  who  could  correctly  chant  the  holy 
texts,  and  his  disciples  looked  at  one  another  and 
smiled  approval. 

"Now,"  said  the  missionary,  "we  are  agreed  on 
that  point,  that  we  are  all  of  us  sinful,  and  that  we  can- 
not of  our  own  selves  get  rid  of  our  sins,  but  must 
have  God's  help. 

' '  The  next  great  question  is  how  to  obtain  that  help. 
Your  own  beloved  poet,  V&nana,  says  (intoning  it 
in  Telugu)  : 

u  '  'Tis  not  by  roaming  deserts  wild,  nor  gazing  at  the  sky  ; 
'Tis  not  by  bathing  in  the  stream,  nor  pilgrimage  to  shrine, 
Bnt  thine  own  heart  most  thou  make  pure,  and  then,  and  then 

alone, 
Shalt  thou  see  Him  no  eye  hath  kenned,  shalt  thou  behold  thy 

King.' 

"  Now  how  can  our  hearts  be  made  pure  so  that  we 
can  indeed  see  God  !  That  secret  has  been  revealed 
by  the  great  God  in  the  Holy  Bible,  the  true  V6da, 
and  my  ancestors  have  learned  it ;  shall  I  tell  it  to 
you!" 

All  were  now  attentive  while  the  missionary  went 
on  to  tell  them  the  story  of  stories,  the  story  of  re- 
deeming love.  He  told  them  that  sin  was  not,  as  so 
many  regarded  it,  simply  the  violation  of  the  cere- 


The  Brahman  High  Priest  109 

monial  law  ;  but  that  sin  was  any  disobedience  of 
that  only  one  true  God  who  had  created,  preserves 
and  blesses  us,  and  who  alone  was  entitled  to  our  per- 
fect obedience.  He  told  them  how,  when  man  had 
fallen  into  sin  and  lost  all  harmony  with  God  and  be- 
come His  enemy,  that  God  of  love  had  determined 
Himself  to  save  him,  and  how  God  had  sent  His  own 
Son  into  this  world  as  a  divine  Guru,  a  divine 
Saviour,  for  our  sins,  and  opening  one  of  the  Gospels 
in  his  hands  he  read  out  distinctly  in  the  melodious 
Telugu,  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave 
His  only  begotten  Son  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
Him  should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life." 
"  That  only  begotten  Son  of  God,"  continued  the  mis- 
sionary, "  was  not  born  in  England  or  America,  so 
that  this  could  not  be  regarded  only  as  a  white  man's 
religion.  He  was  born  in  a  land  midway  between 
here  and  England,  in  Asia,  your  own  continent,  so 
that  He  was  more  akin  to  you  than  to  us." 

And  then  the  missionary  went  on  to  tell  of  that 
wonderful  virgin-birth,  foretold  by  God's  prophets 
hundreds  of  years  before,  and  for  whose  coming  God 
had  prepared  a  people  by  centuries  of  discipline,  and 
he  further  told  of  the  wonderful  life  and  works  and 
words  of  that  Jesus  Christ  while  here  upon  earth  ;  of 
His  deeds  of  love  and  mercy  ;  of  His  giving  sight  to 
the  blind,  causing  the  deaf  to  hear,  healing  the  sick, 
raising  the  dead,  and  yet  how  He  was  rejected  by 


no      Presenting  Christ  to  the  Hindus 

those  He  had  come  to  save,  and  how  He  was  crucified, 
and  buried,  and  how  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day 
He  rose  again  from  the  grave  by  His  own  divine 
power. 

During  this  recital  there  was  absorbed  silence,  and 
at  its  close  the  missionary  said  : 

"This,  venerable  friend  and  all  who  hear  me,  is 
the  Christian  religion  which  my  people  beyond  the 
sea  have  received  and  believe,  and  because  they  be- 
lieve it  and  want  you  to  know  the  glad  tidings  and 
share  the  same  salvation,  and  in  obedience  to  their 
Saviour's  last  command  to  go  into  all  the  world  and 
tell  the  news  to  everybody,  they  have  sent  us  here  to 
tell  this  best  news  that  mortal  ear  has  ever  heard  to 
all  you  people,  that  you  too  may  be  able,  by  His 
help,  to  get  rid  of  sin  and  gain  heaven.  It  was  not 
to  revile  your  gods  that  we  came,  but  to  give  you  the 
cap-sheaf  of  the  highest  aspirations  of  your  V£das, 
your  seers,  your  poets,  who  have  longed  to  know  of 
a  surety  how  to  be  able  to  get  rid  of  sin,  but  to  whom 
it  was  not  then  revealed.  Do  you  wonder  that  hav- 
ing this  good  news  we  were  anxious  to  tell  it  to 
you?" 

The  old  priest  was  evidently  much  touched,  and  so 
were  his  disciples,  and  continued  quiet  and  thought- 
ful for  some  time.  At  length  he  spoke. 

"Sir,"  said  he,  "you  read  from  your  Veda  that 
God  has  sent  His  Son  into  the  world  that  all  who  be- 


The  Brahman  High  Priest  ill 

lieve  in  Him  might  be  saved.  Are  there  then  two 
Gods,  the  Father  and  the  Son!  We  have  three, 
Brahma  the  creator,  Vishnu  the  preserver,  and  Siva 
the  destroyer.  You,  it  would  seem,  believe  in  two. 
Am  I  right  in  this  ?  " 

"  No,  my  friend,  there  is  but  one  God,  who  has  re- 
vealed Himself  to  us  in  the  true  Ve"da  which  He  has 
given  us,  but  He  has  revealed  Himself  as  one  God  in 
three  persons,  God  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit,  three  persons  in  one  godhead." 

"  Can  you  explain  how  that  is?  " 

"  No,  my  friend,  I  frankly  tell  you  that  that  is  a 
'mystery'  that  no  human  being  can  fully  com- 
prehend." 

"  How  then  can  you  believe  it  if  you  cannot  under- 
stand it?" 

"Because  God  Himself  has  taught  it  in  the  true 
Ve"da,  the  Holy  Bible,  which  He  has  revealed  to 
us.  We  cannot  understand  all  about  God.  If  we 
could,  we  would  deem  ourselves  His  equals.  We 
must  take  many  things  by  faith,  and  believe  them 
simply  because  God  says  so — even  though  we  cannot 
with  our  finite  minds  understand  them  fully." 

"You,  too,  believe  many  things  that  you  do  not 
understand.  You  take  a  dry  mango  seed  ;  you  put 
it  in  the  ground  and  pour  water  upon  it.  You  be- 
lieve that  pretty  soon  a  tiny  shoot  will  appear,  that 
it  will  grow  up  into  a  tree,  that  the  tree  will  blossom, 


1 1 2       Presenting  Christ  to  the  Hindus 

that  small  fruits  will  appear,  that  they  will  grow  and 
ripen,  and  that  you  will  have  delicious  mangoes  to 
eat  like  those  the  seed  of  which  you  have  planted. 
But  do  you  understand  how  all  this  is  brought  about  1 
How  it  is  that  that  mango  seed  and  the  common 
earth,  with  ordinary  water  poured  upon  it  and  sun- 
shine, will  make  that  fine  tree  and  that  delicious 
fruit  t  Do  you  understand  how  it  is  that  when  your 
mind  feels  angry  or  mortified  your  face  becomes  red 
and  burns,  as  yours  did  a  few  minutes  ago  as  we  were 
talking  about  your  going  home  and  spreading  out 
your  mat  and  expiring  ? 

"There  are  myriads  of  mysteries  all  about  us  that 
no  man  can  understand.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know 
that  God  says  so — especially,  when  He  teaches  us 
about  Himself  and  about  the  way  to  get  rid  of  sin, 
and  come  into  harmony  with  Himself. 

"Your  great  concern  and  mine  should  be,  how  we 
can  get  rid  of  sin  and  get  into  harmony  with  God,  so 
that  we  shall  be  prepared  to  dwell  with  Him  forever. 
God  has  told  us  all  this  in  His  Holy  Word.  Would 
you  like  to  take  some  of  these  Gospels,  which  contain 
the  life  and  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ,  home  with  you 
and  read  them  carefully  and  think  them  over,  and 
see  if  they  do  not  give  you  more  soul-satisfying  news 
than  anything  you  have  ever  heard  before  ?  " 

Other  objections  had  been  thrown  in,  and  searching 
questions  asked  us,  aa  "Your  religion  may  be  good 


The  Brahman  High  Priest  1 13 

for  you,  and  ours  for  us,"  and  "Does  not  Fate  or 
Destiny,  after  all,  control  all  things,  so  that  a  man  is 
not  responsible  for  his  actions,  and  God  cannot  justly 
punish  us  for  what  we  do  ?  "  and  the  like,  to  each  of 
which  the  missionary  had  been  able,  with  the  prom- 
ised aid,  to  render  such  answer  as  had  silenced  the 
opponents,  but  which  space  does  not  allow  to  be  de- 
tailed here  and  which  consumed  the  time  until  dark- 
ness was  coming  on,  when  the  missionary  said,  "But 
it  is  getting  late  and  you  have  proposed  that  we  meet 
here  again  to-morrow  and  talk  more  about  this  most 
important  of  all  themes.  We  will  bid  you,  mean- 
time, good-night." 

The  venerable  high  priest  accepted  one  each  of  the 
Gospels,  and  bidding  us  an  unexpectedly  courteous 
good-evening  withdrew  with  his  disciples,  and  we, 
bidding  good-bye  to  the  large  audience,  turned  back 
to  our  tents,  promising  to  be  there  at  the  same  time 
the  next  day  to  tell  them  some  more  about  this 
"good  news." 

The  next  day  at  midday  when  everybody  was  in- 
doors at  their  noon  meal  the  missionaries  noticed  as 
they  looked  through  the  meshes  of  the  tattle,  or  hang- 
ing screen  at  the  door  of  their  tent,  a  well-dressed 
man  cautiously  picking  his  way  on  the  ridges  of  the 
rice-fields,  approaching  the  tent.  Coming  up  to  the 
tattle  and  pausing,  a  courteous  voice,  which  seemed 
to  sound  familiar,  asked,  "Sir,  may  I  come  in?" 


114      Presenting  Christ  to  the  Hindus 

"Certainly,"  was  the  reply.  Eaising  the  tattie  and 
stepping  in,  the  venerable  high  priest  of  the  previous 
evening  appeared,  but  without  his  priestly  garb,  and 
looking  cautiously  about  asked,  "May  I  close  this 
tent-curtain!" 

"  Certainly,"  was  our  response. 

"Is  there  any  one  within  hearing?"  "No,  our 
people  have  all  gone  to  their  midday  meal."  His 
whole  bearing  changed  to  one  of  frank  friendliness, 
as  he  now  said  : 

"  Sir,  I  promised  to  meet  you  at  the  market-place 
again  this  evening  for  farther  discussion,  but  I  have 
been  thinking  it  over  since,  and  I  have  read  those 
little  books  you  let  me  have,  and  I  am  not  going  to 
meet  you  there.  Our  system  cannot  stand  the  light 
that  you  are  letting  in  upon  it.  Some  things  you 
said  last  evening  cannot  be  answered.  I  made  the  best 
show  I  could  at  answering  them  there,  as  I  was  sur- 
rounded by  my  disciples  and  had  to  appear  to  be 
holding  my  own. 

"  But,  sir,  I  am  not  going  to  meet  you  in  discussion 
in  public  again.  Your  system  seems  so  pure,  so  holy, 
so  good,  it  appeals  to  the  best  there  is  in  man.  It  so 
satisfies  the  soul's  highest  desires  that  it  seems  as 
though  it  must  be,  as  you  say  it  is,  a  revelation  from 
a  God  of  purity  and  love,  who  really  seeks  the  high- 
est happiness  and  good  of  us  sinful  men.  It  does 
seem  as  though  through  that  God-man,  Jesus  Christ, 


The  Brahman  High  Priest  115 

about  whose  birth,  life,  words  and  works  I  have  been 
reading  all  night,  we  sinful  men  might  find  hope,  and 
pardon  and  peace,  and,  as  you  say,  eternal  life. 

"But,  sir,  we  Brahmans  cannot  afford  to  let  you 
succeed  in  introducing  your  system  here  in  India. 
Jnst  look  at  the  plight  in  which  it  would  leave  us. 
Jfow  we  are  looked  up  to  as  demi-gods  and  are  wor- 
shipped by  all  the  people.  We  reap  the  rich  reve- 
nues of  all  the  temple  endowment  lands.  At  every 
birth,  marriage,  and  death,  at  every  family  cere- 
monial, we  receive  rich  fees  and  presents.  We  live 
on  the  fat  of  the  land. 

"  But  let  your  religion  prevail,  which  teaches  that 
we  are  all  children  of  one  God,  and  all  equal  in  His 
sight,  and  we  Brahmans  fall  from  our  high  pedestal 
and  will  have  to  mingle  with  the  ignoble  throng  and 
struggle  with  them  for  our  existence.  Xo,  sir,  good  as 
your  system  is,  and  I  admit  that  it  really  seems  far 
better  than  ours,  we  Brahmans  cannot  afford  to  let 
you  succeed  in  introducing  it.  We  must  fight  you," 
and  this  he  said  with  seemingly  real  sadness. 

"But,  sir,"  he  went  on,  "the  character  of  Jesus 
Christ  so  appeals  to  me ;  the  system  of  morality  in 
these  books  is  so  high  and  noble,  that  I  must  have 
these  books  to  teach  their  precepts  to  my  disciples. 
You  said  last  night  that  you  would  sell  them  to  any 
one  who  wanted  them.  I  have  brought  the  money  to 
purchase  one  for  each  of  my  disciples.  You  will  let 


li6       Presenting  Christ  to  the  Hindus 

me  have  them,  will  you  not,  even  if  I  cannot  join 
your  religion?" 

How  gladly  did  we  furnish  him  with  those  copies 
of  the  ' '  Word  of  Life."  How  earnestly  did  we  again 
talk  with  him  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  salvation,  and 
press  upon  him  the  acceptance  of  that  Jesus  Christ 
as  his  own  personal  Saviour. 

He  listened  reverently  but,  as  he  finally  took  his 
leave,  he  said,  "  It  does  seem,  good  sirs,  as  though  it 
must  be  true ;  but,  sirs,  as  I  before  said,  I  cannot 
bring  myself  to  give  up  the  position  I  hold  as  high 
priest  of  all  this  region,  and  as  the  preceptor  of  this 
school  of  young  Brahmans.  But  I  am  going  to  teach 
them  the  morality  of  these  books  and  to  admire  and 
pattern  after  the  character  of  the  Jesus  Christ  of 
whom  they  tell  such  winning  stories. 

"But  I  must  go  back  to  my  school  now,  for  I  do 
not  want  any  one  to  know  that  I  have  been  to  see 
you,  and  that  is  why  I  left  off  my  priestly  robes  and 
came  around  from  the  north  gate  through  the  rice- 
fields  to  your  tent  at  midday  when  no  one  would 
be  likely  to  see  me." 

And,  tying  the  Gospels  he  had  purchased,  one 
for  each  of  his  pupils,  in  one  end  of  his  turban  cloth, 
which  he  had  loosened  for  the  purpose,  he  bade  us  a 
very  courteous  farewell,  and  wended  his  way  again 
around  through  the  rice-fields  to  the  north  gate  of 
the  city  unobserved. 


The  Brahman  High  Priest  117 

We  never  saw  him  again,  for  the  next  touring 
season  we  took  a  very  long  journey  in  another 
direction,  anxious  to  sow  the  Gospel  seed  "  beside  all 
waters,"  and,  our  work  developing  greatly  in  another 
direction,  we  were  not  able  again  to  visit  that 
region. 

Whether  he  ever  personally  accepted  Jesus  Christ 
as  his  Saviour,  we  do  not  know,  but  we  are  com- 
forted by  remembering  that  in  another  case  a  vener- 
able Brahman  Mantri  and  his  son,  to  whom  we  had 
proclaimed  the  same  "good  news  "  in  another  native 
state,  sent  word  to  me  four  years  later  by  a  chance 
Christian  traveller,  who  was  benighted  at  their  town 
and  who  they  learned  was  journeying  to  the  region 
where  I  lived,  that  since  my  visit  and  talk  with 
them  and  giving  them  the  New  Testament,  they  had 
read  in  that  blessed  book  every  day,  and  every  day 
they  kneeled  in  prayer  to  that  Jesus  Christ  of  whom 
I  had  told  them,  and  that  through  His  merits  they 
hoped  to  meet  me  in  heaven  where  they  would  tell 
me  all  about  how  they  had  been  led. 

No  word  has  ever  come  from  that  Brahman  high 
priest,  but  it  may  be  that  he  too  has  accepted  Jesus 
Christ  as  his  personal  Saviour,  and  that  we  may  meet 
him  too  in  glory,  saved  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as 
the  Son  of  God. 

What  an  incentive  this  gives  us  for  prayer  that 
the  many  throughout  India  who  have  thus  heard  of 


n8       Presenting  Christ  to  the  Hindus 

Jesus  Christ  and  been  drawn  towards  Him,  may  have 
grace  given  them  to  accept  Him,  at  no  matter  what 
personal  sacrifice  to  themselves,  and  in  this  we  are 
encouraged  by  God's  own  promise  that  "My  word 
shall  not  return  unto  Me  void." 


VI 

MEDICAL  MISSIONS  A  HANDMAID  TO  EVAN- 
GELIZATION:  THEIR  SPHERE  AND  THEIR 
WORKING 

THE  sphere,  par  excellence,  for  medical  mis- 
sions, that  sphere  where  they  are  most 
needed,  where  their  influence  is  most  felt, 
is  in  the  entering  upon  new  fields,  the  opening  out 
of  missionary  work  in  new  localities,  where  one 
wishes  to  become  acquainted  with  the  people,  and  to 
gain  their  good- will,  both  towards  himself  and  his 
message  and  his  Master,  as  soon  as  he  can.  Not  that 
medical  missions  are  not  of  exceeding  value,  even  in 
an  old  established  mission  ;  but  they  reveal  their 
greatest  power  for  good,  their  greatest  immediate 
results,  where  a  missionary,  usually  a  foreigner,  in 
going  among  a  strange  people  of  a  different  religion, 
is  likely  to  be  looked  upon  with  suspicion,  treated 
with  coldness,  if  not  with  disdain  and  opposition, 
and  where  he  finds  his  message  listened  to  with  only 
partially  concealed  aversion.  It  is  in  such  circum- 
stances, above  all,  that  the  missionary  needs  most 
closely  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his  Master,  who 

"went  about  all  the  cities  and  villages — preaching 

119 


12O  Medical  Missions 

the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  and  healing  every  sick- 
ness and  every  disease  among  the  people." 

The  theory  of  medical  missions  can  just  as  well  be 
presented  by  one  who  has  not  been  in  mission  fields. 
It  is,  however,  as  a  witness  on  the  stand  that  I  present 
this  chapter  of  personal  experience ;  and  this  necessi- 
tates my  detailing  what  my  own  eyes  have  seen  ;  and 
somewhat  of  what  my  hands  have  done ;  for  hearsay 
evidence  is  of  little  value ;  and  what  I  present  shall 
be  what  I  myself  have  seen  and  passed  through, 
even  though  it  might  not  be  seemly,  under  other 
circumstances,  to  speak  so  much  of  one's  own  work. 

Going  to  India  in  1859,  after  three  years  of  service 
and  the  acquiring  of  the  language,  it  fell  to  my  lot 
to  go  on  some  sixty  miles  beyond  where  missionary 
work  had  ever  before  been  done,  and  open  up  entirely 
new  territory,  with  headquarters  at  Madanapalle. 
The  intention  was  that  itinerating  and  evangelistic 
labours  should  be  our  chief  work,  for  our  mission 
had  a  large  medical  work  and  hospital  eighty  miles 
to  the  south. 

Living  with  my  family  in  tents  while  I  built  a 
temporary  home,  my  assistants  and  myself  had  busied 
ourselves  in  preaching  in  the  surrounding  villages, 
as  well  as  in  all  the  streets  of  the  town  of  ten 
thousand  people.  "We  were  received  coldly.  The 
people  did  not  wish  their  ancient  faith  disturbed. 
The  Brahmans  spat  as  we  passed  through  their  street, 


Their  Sphere  and  Their  Working       121 

and  would  scarcely  deign  to  listen  to  us  as  we 
preached  at  the  open  corners  of  their  highways.  I 
had  not  then  designed  undertaking  medical  work  : 
the  Lord,  however,  ordered  otherwise. 

Scarcely  were  we  settled  in  our  temporary  house 
when  the  annual  drawing  of  the  idol  car  in  the  town 
occurred.  At  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  as  with  torch- 
light procession  the  car  was  being  drawn  by  the 
multitude  it  came  to  a  standstill.  The  ropes  had 
snapped,  and  the  car  could  not  be  moved.  * '  The  gods 
are  angry  !  The  gods  are  angry  !  "  shouted  the  priests. 
"Bun  and  bring  cocoanuts  to  break  over  the  wheels 
and  propitiate  the  deities  or  we  are  cursed." 

Off  ran  the  people  to  get  cocoanuts  for  the  libation. 
They  were  broken  on  the  big  wooden  wheels,  and  the 
milk  ran  down  freely.  A  well-to-do  farmer  had 
brought  his.  In  striking  one  on  the  wheel  to  break 
it,  it  had  slipped  and  fallen  on  the  ground  inside  the 
wheel.  He  reached  his  hand  under  the  front  of  the 
wheel  to  get  the  cocoanut.  The  people  were  strain- 
ing at  the  mended  ropes.  Just  then,  "the  gods  be- 
came propitious"  ;  the  car  moved  forward  with  a 
lurch,  and  passed  over  the  hand  and  forearm  of  the 
farmer  reaching  for  his  cocoanut,  breaking  the  bones 
and  mangling  the  flesh. 

From  my  treatment  of  some  of  the  workmen  who 
had  met  with  an  accident  in  the  building  of  my 
house,  the  people  had  come  to  know  that  I  was  a 


122  Medical  Missions 

doctor.  Friends  carried  the  wounded  man  to  his 
house  in  the  main  (farmer's)  street  of  the  town,  and 
ran  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  my  house  to  waken  me 
and  ask  me  to  come  and  save  the  man's  life,  and  if 
possible  his  arm  and  right  hand.  Taking  restora- 
tives and  necessary  appliances,  I  hastened  to  his 
house  to  find  them  already  singing  the  death-wail 
over  him.  From  nervous  shock  and  loss  of  blood  he 
had  fainted,  and  they  supposed  him  to  be  dead.  The 
Lord  gave  me  that  man's  life.  How  I  worked  over 
the  case  !  There  were  ten  bone  fractures,  besides  the 
mangling  of  muscles,  sinews,  nerves,  and  blood  ves- 
sels. How  our  few  Christians  prayed  !  The  man  re- 
covered and  regained  the  use  even  of  that  hand,  his 
plough  hand. 

He  was  a  member  of  a  large  and  influential 
family  of  landed  farmers.  Not  one  of  that  family, 
we  were  told,  ever  joined  in  the  idol  car  observances 
again.  Few  Sabbaths  passed  on  which  some  of  them 
were  not  seen  at  our  Christian  service.  None  of  them 
openly  embraced  Christianity ;  but  from  that  day  they 
all  were  the  Christians'  friends  and  defenders,  and 
a  few  years  later  one  of  them,  Musalappa  by  name, 
the  village  magistrate,  died  calling  on  the  Lord  Jesus. 
One  of  his  cousins  afterwards  told  me  that  he  had 
begged  them  when  very  near  death  to  send  for  the 
missionary  doctor.  They  feared  that  he  would  be 
baptized,  and  break  caste,  and  bring  them  into  dis- 


Their  Sphere  and  Their  Working       123 

grace,  and  hence  refused  to  do  so.  I  knew  naught  of 
it  till  long  after,  but  they  then  told  me  of  the  words 
of  faith  and  hope  in  the  Lord  Jesus  he  had  uttered 
with  his  last  breath,  exhorting  them  all  to  yield  to 
Christ,  and  I  was  glad. 

Later,  after  I  had  been  compelled  by  Providence  to 
begin  organized  medical  work,  there  came  to  me,  at 
rny  house  at  midday,  one  of  the  leading  Brahmaus, 
Venkayya  by  name,  a  well-educated  man,  a  minor 
official,  saying  with  deep  emotion,  "O  sir,  my  wife 
is  dying.  Do  come  and  save  her."  I  asked  about 
her  case  and  he  told  me,  adding,  "  Our  native  doctors 
say  she  cannot  live  the  day  through,  but  you  can 
save  her  if  you  only  will.  Do  come,  I  implore 
you."  I  told  him  I  could  do  nothing  without  going 
right  into  her  zenana  apartment,  to  her  bedside  and 
carefully  examining  her.  "  Do  anything  you  like, 
only  save  her,"  was  his  reply.  Obtaining  my  prom- 
ise he  went  home.  After  earnest  prayer  that  God 
would  use  this  opening  to  His  glory,  I  followed. 
Venkayya  received  me  at  the  corner  of  the  main 
street  and  conducted  me  openly  to  his  house  and 
directly  into  the  zenana,  to  his  wife's  bedside.  She 
was  very,  very  low.  God  heard  my  prayer,  guided 
the  treatment,  and  blessed  the  remedies.  In  a  few 
weeks  she  was  about  the  house  a  smiling  happy  wife 
and  mother.  That  opened  the  Brahman  houses  of 
the  town  to  the  missionary  doctor,  and  many  a  case 


124  Medical  Missions 

of  midwifery,  fever,  and  accident,  did  I  attend  in 
the  highest  Brahman  houses  from  that  day  forward. 

I  knew  that  this  Brahman  was  intensely  grateful, 
but  was  hardly  prepared  for  a  testimony  to  the  mis- 
sionary and  his  motive  power,  the  Bible,  which  he 
gave  at  a  large  gathering  of  his  co-religionists  in 
Madanapalle,  a  few  months  later. 

At  the  close  of  an  address  which  I  had  given  to  a 
large  audience  of  non- Christian  Hindus,  in  which  I 
had  set  forth  as  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  book,  the 
insufficiency  of  the  V6das  and  the  all-sufficiency  of 
the  Bible  to  lift  a  soul  to  God,  he  gave  that  remark- 
able address  on  the  Bible  given  in  some  detail  in  a 
previous  chapter. 

A  few  months  later,  a  Mohammedan  police  officer, 
Moideen  Saib  by  name,  came  to  me  as  I  was  very  busy 
in  my  hospital  one  day,  begging  me  to  come  to  his 
house  and  see  his  young  wife  who  was  very  sick,  say- 
ing that  their  hakims  (Mohammedan  doctors),  had 
just  told  him  that  she  could  not  possibly  live.  I  had 
treated  him,  two  years  before,  for  a  very  serious  ail- 
ment and  he  had  recovered,  and  now,  in  full  confi- 
dence, he  appealed  to  me  to  save  his  wife.  My  chief 
assistant  was  absent  on  leave,  my  second  assistant 
was  himself  down  with  typhoid  fever.  There  was  an 
epidemic  of  cholera,  another  of  smallpox,  and  still 
another  of  typhoid  fever  in  town  at  the  time,  and  I 
was  driven  with  work  to  my  wits'  end. 


Their  Sphere  and  Their  Working       125 

I  said,  "  You  see  how  driven  with  work  I  am,  and 
how  many  are  crowding  around  me  all  the  time  at 
the  hospital.  I  cannot  go  to  your  house.  Bring 
your  wife  here  and  I  will  do  my  best  to  save  her." 

"No,  sir,  we  are  of  the  Gosha  sect  (the  most 
secluded).  I  cannot  bring  my  wife  out  of  the  house. ' ? 
"But,"  said  I,  "you  can  bring  her  in  a  curtained 
jutJca  (native  coach)  which  can  back  right  up  to  the 
side  door  of  the  women's  private  ward,  and  I  will  do 
the  very  best  I  possibly  can  for  her.  I  cannot  go  to 
your  house." 

"Then  she  will  have  to  die  where  she  is,"  he 
groaned,  "  for  we  would  be  outcasts  if  I  let  her  pass 
through  the  streets  even  in  a  closed  coach  ;  that  is  our 
law."  And  he  burst  into  tears. 

I  went.  She  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  oriental 
young  women  I  had  ever  seen.  God  again  had  a 
purpose  to  accomplish  and  gave  me  her  life.  I 
visited  her  once  or  twice  a  day  for  ten  days.  At  my 
final  visit,  as  I  bade  her  good-bye,  she,  seated  on  her 
Persian  rug  on  the  floor,  threw  herself  forward, 
clasped  my  ankles  and  kissed  my  feet,  saying : 
"  You  have  saved  my  life  ;  what  can  I  do  to  show  my 
gratitude?" 

From  that  day  the  secluded  Mohammedan  houses 
were  open  to  the  missionary  doctor  and  many  a  one 
did  I  enter  on  errands  of  mercy.  The  sullen  hatred 
of  the  Mohammedans  then  ceased  to  be  manifested  ; 


126  Medical  Missions 

the  Moulvi  even  becoming  my  friend.  Mohammedan 
children,  moreover,  began  coming  to  the  missionary's 
school,  and  Mohammedans  listened  respectfully  to 
our  preaching. 

A  wandering  Hindu  Sanyasi,  an  aged  man,  was 
taken  ill  as  he  came  to  our  town  on  his  circuit.  He 
was  brought  to  our  hospital.  Long  treatment  was 
required.  He  heard  the  daily  reading  of  the  Divine 
Word,  and  the  proclamation  of  salvation  through 
Jesus  Christ.  After  some  weeks,  he  privately  asked 
the  Christian  assistant  more  and  more  about  this 
Jesus.  When  dismissed  from  the  hospital  cured,  he 
came  to  our  church  and  was  baptized  in  the  name  of 
the  Triune  God,  and  old  Shantappa  lived  and  died  a 
happy  Christian. 

But  how  about  the  distant  villages  ?  Does  it  not 
hinder  the  work  in  and  for  them  t  Nay,  it  helps. 

In  the  early  days  of  my  dispensary  work,  I  was 
seated  in  the  prescribing  room,  shortly  after  sunrise 
one  morning,  with  fifty  patients  already  present, 
waiting  for  treatment.  I  had  read  from  Holy  Writ 
and  had  preached  to  the  patients,  and  offered  prayer 
for  guidance  in  diagnosing  and  prescribing  for  the 
diseases  and  in  administering  remedies,  that  all  who 
were  treated  in  the  name  of  Christ  might  recover, 
and  that  He,  the  Great  Physician,  would  Himself 
heal  the  maladies  of  their  souls.  While  I  was  pre- 
scribing for  the  patients,  one  by  one,  the  tooting  of 


Their  Sphere  and  Their  Working       127 

trumpets  and  blowing  of  horns  announced  that  some 
great  man  was  coming,  and  soon  up  to  the  rear  door  of 
the  dispensary,  where  I  was  sitting,  drove  the  travel- 
ling coach  of  the  old  Nabob  of  Gurramkonda,  who 
lived  twenty-five  miles  to  the  north.  His  Mantri,  or 
prime  minister,  came  in,  saying  that  his  master,  the 
Nabob's  son,  was  in  the  coach  ;  that  ten  days  before 
he  had  got  his  jaw  out  of  joint ;  that  there  was  not  a 
blacksmith  nor  a  barber  within  ten  miles  but  had 
had  a  tug  at  that  jaw,  though  all  to  no  avail ;  that 
last  evening  they  had  heard  of  this  new  foreign  doc- 
tor, who  was  said  to  do  such  wondrous  things,  and 
the  Nabob  had  ordered  him  to  get  up  the  big  bullock 
coach,  and,  travelling  through  the  night,  he  brought 
the  young  man  right  to  my  hospital,  to  see  if  any- 
thing could  possibly  be  done  for  him.  The  young 
man  came  in.  His  jaw  was  wide  open,  with  some 
webbing  tied  under  the  chin  and  over  the  crown  of 
the  head,  and  a  stick  put  in  and  twisted  up  as  tight 
as  possible,  lest  it  should  get  still  wider  open  !  This 
was  taken  off  before  I  examined  him.  Every  surgeon 
knows  what  a  simple  thing  it  is  to  set  a  jaw,  if  one 
knows  how.  My  thumbs,  wound  in  napkins,  went 
into  his  mouth  and  the  jaw  came  instantly  into  place. 
The  old  Mantri,  and  all  his  followers  declared  that 
it  was  a  miracle,  and  went  back  home  noising  abroad 
the  wonderful  tale.  The  next  time  we  went  on  a 
preaching  tour  all  through  those  villages  to  the 


128  Medical  Missions 

north,  nearly  every  village  turned  out  a  fine  audience 
of  interested  listeners,  eager  to  know  the  truth, 
taught  by  "  the  great  doctor."  We  felt  the  effects  of 
that  one  slight  operation  all  through  that  tour. 

In  June,  1869,  there  was  brought  to  my  hospital  in 
a  hammock-like  blanket  tied  to  a  long  bamboo,  borne 
on  the  shoulders  of  four  of  his  kinsmen,  a  two-days' 
journey  from  their  village,  a  young  man,  Rdmudu, 
whose  life  could  only  be  saved  by  a  critical  surgical 
operation,  so  critical,  that  I  at  first  declined  to  under- 
take it,  believing  that  he  would  die  under  the  knife. 
I  however  laid  the  case  before  the  Master,  and  He 
seemed  to  bid  me  go  on.  I  performed  the  operation. 
To  my  joy,  if  not  surprise,  the  young  man  recovered. 
His  uncle,  a  tall,  spare  man  suffering  from  loss  of 
vision  had  come  with  him.  I  was  able  to  restore  his 
sight  by  treatment. 

When  both  were  cured,  they  came  to  my  house  to 
express  their  thanks  and  bid  me  good-bye.  They 
asked  me  to  let  them  have  some  of  the  Gospels  they 
had  heard  read  daily,  and  some  tracts  explaining 
them,  to  take  home  with  them,  as  they  said  they 
were  never  going  to  worship  their  old  gods  again, 
and  they  wished  these  Gospels  to  read  to  their  fellow 
villagers,  that  they,  too,  might  know  the  true  God. 
They  took  them  and  went  home.  I  asked  my  as- 
sistant if  he  had  recorded  the  names  of  their  village, 
and  T&luk  or  county,  for  when  the  hot  season  was 


Their  Sphere  and  Their  Working       129 

over,  and  we  could  tour  again,  we  would  go  out  into 
their  region  for  a  tour  and  visit  them,  for  they  were 
evidently  in  earnest. 

"We  went  to  the  Taluk  recorded,  but  could  find  no 
such  village.  There  had  been  a  mistake  in  the 
record.  We  lost  sight  of  them.  Three  years 
elapsed.  We  were  out  with  our  tents  on  a  tour  in 
another  Taluk.  At  a  weekly  fair  our  two  patients 
found  us,  and  begged  us  to  come  to  their  village,  four 
miles  away  among  the  hills,  for  all  the  people  of  the 
little  village  or  hamlet  wanted  to  embrace  Christian- 
ity. The  next  morning  at  sunrise,  we  were  there. 
Every  householder  came  forward  and  signed  a  cov- 
enant for  himself  and  family,  renouncing  heathenism, 
giving  up  their  idols,  and  promising  to  obey  the  pre- 
cepts of  the  Gospel,  so  far  as  they  knew  them  or 
might  be  taught  them — we  promising  to  give  them  a 
teacher  to  instruct  them  in  the  way  of  God  more  per- 
fectly. Of  the  worthy  life  and  triumphant  death  of 
those  two  men  time  fails  me  to  tell.  Two  other 
hamlets  of  the  relatives  were  brought  over  to  Christi- 
anity by  their  influence.  The  surgeon's  knife  had 
cut  the  bonds  of  their  hereditary  superstition,  and 
they  became  free  men  in  Christ  Jesus. 

In  1873,  I  was  once  riding  rapidly  on  my  horse, 
twenty  miles  from  my  station,  on  my  way  to  attend 
a  case  of  an  accident  out  in  the  district,  when  I  saw 
a  venerable  Brahman  walking  in  the  road  towards 


130  Medical  Missions 

me.  Looking  intently  at  me  as  I  rapidly  approached, 
he  held  up  his  hands  to  arrest  my  progress  and 
eagerly  asked  me,  "Sir,  are  you  the  missionary 
doctor  from  Madanapalle  t " 

"I  am,"  said  I. 

"Well,  sir,  will  you  please  stop,  and  let  me  talk 
with  you  a  little  1  I  have  come  in  on  foot  eighty  miles 
to  see  you,  and  now  you  are  going  by,  away  from  your 
home.  I  know  not  where  I  could  find  you  again  ; 
will  you  please  let  me  have  a  little  conversation  with 
you?" 

The  Master's  business  is  always  my  business,  so  I 
sprang  from  my  horse  to  let  him  rest  for  the  farther 
journey  while  we  sat  under  a  banyan  tree  and  con- 
versed. 

"Sir,"  said  he,  "I  have  never  before  seen  a  mis- 
sionary. I  have  never  seen  your  Y6da.  But  one  of 
our  townsmen  went  to  your  hospital  some  time  ago 
and  was  healed,  and  brought  back  your  hospital 
ticket  that  you  give  your  patients,  on  the  back  of 
which  was  printed  a  statement  of  your  religion. 
Here  it  is."  And  with  that  he  produced  the  ticket, 
worn  and  soiled.  On  its  back  was  printed  a  succinct 
statement  in  Telugu  of  which  this  is  the  translation  : 

"  There  is  but  one  true  God.  He  created,  controls, 
and  preserves  all  things  that  exist. 

"He  is  sinless ;  but  we  are  filled  with  sin.  He,  to 
take  away  our  sin  gave  His  own  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  to 


Their  Sphere  and  Their  Working       131 

come  into  the  world  as  a  Divine  Redeemer.  That  Di- 
vine Redeemer,  Jesus  Christ,  gave  His  life  a  propitia- 
tory sacrifice  for  us ;  and  now  whoever  believes  in 
Him,  and  prays  to  Him,  will  receive  remission  of 
sins  and  eternal  life.  This  is  what  the  true  Veda,  the 
Holy  Bible,  teaches  us. 

"  Your  own  Telugu  poet,  Vemana,  has  truly  said  : 

"  '  The  soul  defiled  with  sin,  what  real  worship  pays  it? 
The  pot  unclean,  the  cookery  who  eats  it? 
The  heart  impure,  though  it  essays  devotion, 
Can  Deity  receive  it?    Nay,  nay,  be  pure,  O  man.' 

"To  give  us  this  very  purity  of  soul,  our  Divine 
Redeemer,  Jesus  Christ,  came  into  this  world.  Be- 
lieve in  Him ! " 

"That,"  said  he,  "is  all  I  have  ever  seen  of  your 
religion.  Our  townsman  told  us  what  he  had  heard 
of  your  preaching  at  your  hospital.  That  is  all  I 
have  ever  heard.  It  has  shown  us  that  Hinduism  is 
not  the  complete  soul-satisfying  system  that  we  had 
imagined  it  to  be,  by  pointing  out  a  nobler  way. 
Sir,  Hinduism  is  doomed.  It  must  go  by  the  board. 
Now  I  have  come  all  this  way  to  ask  you  what  are 
you  going  to  give  us  in  its  placet " 

The  medical  work  had  reached  far  out,  nearly  one 
hundred  miles,  by  this  ticket,  to  bring  a  seeker  in. 

Still  wider-reaching  is  its  influence  if,  in  new  regions, 
a  travelling  dispensary  is  utilized.  When  my  staff  at 
the  hospital  was  so  arranged  that  the  work  there  could 
be  carried  on  for  a  time  without  me,  I  organized  a 
travelling  dispensary  with  three  well-stocked,  large 


132  Medical  Missions 

medicine  chests,  containing  altogether  thirty  thousand 
doses  of  medicine,  and  went  out  to  regions  twenty, 
thirty,  and  fifty  miles  beyond,  and  while  preaching 
for  the  first  time  in  a  new  locality  of  Jesus,  adminis- 
tered as  well  to  their  physical  necessities,  sending  in 
to  the  hospital  such  cases  as  could  not  be  treated  in 
camp.  During  one  such  tour,  pitching  my  tent  in 
five  different  centres,  I  treated,  in  three  weeks,  713 
different  cases  ;  giving  each  patient  an  average  of  five 
days'  treatment.  The  patients  had  come  from  130 
different  towns  and  villages,  and  we  sold  on  that  trip 
1,013  books,  Gospels  and  large  tracts,  to  tell  them 
more  of  the  Divine  Saviour. 

At  sunrise  each  morning,  we  would  go  out  to  some 
of  the  villages  surrounding  our  camp  and  preach  in 
two  or  three,  and  coming  back  about  eight  o'clock, 
we  would  find  our  tent  surrounded  by  patients,  to 
whom  we  would  first  preach,  and  offer  prayer  to  God 
for  guidance  and  help,  and  then  treat  all  those  present, 
then  preach  again  to  the  new  arrivals  and  treat  them, 
and  thus  "The  Message"  was  made  known  to  hun- 
dreds of  patients  from  scores  of  villages  who  might 
otherwise  never  have  heard  of  the  Way  of  Life. 

There  is  much  more  that  could  be  said— especially 
with  reference  to  the  new  openings  for  women's 
medical  missionary  work,  and  its  marvellous  oppor- 
tunities, but  I  have  shown,  by  illustration,  the  sphere, 
the  opportunities,  and  the  effectiveness  of  medical 


Their  Sphere  and  Their  Working       133 

missions.  The  incidents  I  have  given  are  not  unique, 
but  could  be  duplicated  by  almost  any  earnest  med- 
ical missionary  in  India.  I  have  spoken  of  my  ex- 
periences, because  I  seem  to  be  put  on  the  witness 
stand,  and  must  state  that  of  which  I  had  positive 
knowledge.  But  I  speak  for  the  host  of  medical  mis- 
sionaries in  India  who  would  be  glad  to  testify  to 
similar  experiences. 

In  all  this  chapter  I  have  assumed  one  thing  as  an 
axiom,  about  which  I  need  not  dogmatize ;  no  one 
can  be  a  true  medical  missionary,  without  putting 
special  emphasis  on  the  word  "Missionary."  While 
his  immediate  object  is  to  relieve  suffering  and  cure 
disease,  his  higher  and  far  more  important  object, 
of  which  he  will  never  lose  sight,  is  to  bring  all  his 
patients  to  the  Physician  of  souls,  and  make  his  lov- 
ing Master  their  personal  Eedeemer. 

There  may  be  circumstances  in  which  medical  mis- 
sions may  perhaps  properly  be  held  in  abeyance.  In 
some  parts  of  India,  hospitals  and  dispensaries  have 
now  been  established  in  every  Taluk,  or  county,  by 
the  government,  under  u  Local  Boards,"  and  are 
doing  excellent  work.  In  such  regions,  in  missions 
well  established  by  the  aid  of  medical  missionary 
work  in  their  early  stages,  the  good-will  and  confi- 
dence of  the  people  have  been  gained  ;  seed  has  been 
widely  sown,  and  is  germinating,  and  the  pressure  is 
upon  us  to  tend  the  growing  grain,  and  gather  in  the 


134  Medical  Missions 

harvest.  All  the  strength  of  the  mission  staff,  may, 
for  the  time,  be  needed  for  this  all-important  work, 
so  that  there  being  less  necessity  and  less  available 
strength  to  devote  to  that  work,  it  may  have  to  be 
curtailed.  But  none  the  less  the  effectiveness  of 
medical  missions  is  acknowledged,  and  in  all  new 
regions  they  are  one  of  the  most  important  agencies 
of  which  the  Church  of  God  can  make  use.  The 
power  of  medical  missions  is  just  beginning  to  be 
thoroughly  appreciated.  Their  future,  who  can  pre- 
dict t 


VII 

DO    MEDICAL    MISSIONS    REALLY    PAY?     THE 
MISSIONARY  DOCTOR'S  RETURN  WELCOME 

THE  question  is  sometimes  asked,  Do  med- 
ical missions  really  pay  as  a  trne  missionary 
agency?  Instead  of  arguing  the  case,  I 
propose  to  give  an  incident  that  occurred  years  ago 
in  one  mission  station  in  India,  and  let  my  readers 
draw  their  own  conclusion. 

The  missionary  doctor  had  been  obliged  by  a  break- 
down in  health  to  return  to  his  home  land  to  recruit. 
Three  years  later  he  was  rejoiced  to  be  permitted 
with  his  wife  again  to  return  to  his  old  station  to  re- 
sume his  loved  work. 

News  that  they  would  arrive  at  their  former  home 
in  India  on  the  afternoon  of  a  certain  day  had  pre- 
ceded them,  but  they  had  been  detained  by  a  river 
which,  in  the  unusual  rains,  was  unfordable  without 
a  long  detour,  and  they  did  not  arrive  at  their  little 
bungalow  until  long  after  dark. 

They  then  learned  that  their  compound  had  been 
thronged  by  multitudes  of  non-Christian  townspeople 
all  the  afternoon  waiting  to  welcome  them  back. 
They  had  hardly  got  into  their  old  home  before  the 


136       Do  Medical  Missions  Really  Pay  *? 

leading  town  and  county  (non-Christian)  officials 
came  in,  having  had  messengers  waiting  at  the  gate 
to  run  and  announce  the  arrival,  and  these  officials 
expressed  the  joy  of  the  Hindu  community  at  the  re- 
turn of  the  missionary  doctor  and  his  wife. 

They  had  asked,  casually  as  it  seemed,  whether  the 
doctor  and  his  wife  would  be  going  over  to-morrow 
to  visit  the  hospital  he  had  established  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  town,  and,  if  so,  at  about  what  hour, 
and  whether  they  would  drive  through  the  town,  and 
not  by  the  road  that  skirted  it,  and  so  be  able  to  see 
what  improvements  had  been  made  in  the  town  dur- 
ing these  years. 

The  doctor  told  them  that  he  and  his  wife  intended 
to  go  to  see  the  hospital  at  about  5  P.  M.,  and  that 
they  intended  to  drive  through  the  town.  Bidding 
a  courteous  good-night,  the  visitors  withdrew. 

Promptly  at  five  o'clock  the  next  day  the  doctor 
and  his  wife  drove  across  the  little  river  that  ran  be- 
tween their  bungalow  and  the  native  town,  and  found 
on  the  town  side  of  it  a  very  large  concourse  of  the 
people  of  the  place,  with  the  town  and  county  officials 
awaiting  them  and  greeting  them  with  garlands  and 
music. 

The  doctor  noticed  that  there  was  an  arch  of  "wel- 
come" over  the  entrance  to  the  main  street  through 
which  they  had  to  drive,  and  that  the  houses  on  both 
sides  of  the  street,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  seemed 


Missionary  Doctor's  Return  Welcome      137 

to  have  been  newly  whitewashed  and  decorated,  and 
he  asked  in  all  simplicity  whether  the  chief  magis- 
trate or  the  chief  judge  had  lately  been  visiting  the 
place  on  inspection. 

"No,  not  for  some  months." 

"For  what,  then,  were  all  these  adornments  and 
appearances  of  festivity  ?  " 

"For  yourselves,"  was  the  reply,  "  for  everybody 
wished  to  express  their  gladness  that  you  have  both 
at  length  come  back  to  us." 

As  they  turned  from  the  chief  business  street  into 
the  principal  Brahman  thoroughfare,  another  arch  of 
welcome  spanned  the  street  where,  when  they  had 
first  come  to  this  town  as  their  mission  station,  only 
scowls  and  abuse  had  met  them  as  they  entered. 

At  the  first  street  corner  in  the  Brahman  street 
stood  a  well-dressed  Brahman,  who  was  making  the 
most  demonstrative  salaams  of  welcome  and  good- 
will. The  doctor,  not  recognizing  him,  asked  the 
town  magistrate,  who  was  walking  by  the  side  of  the 
carriage,  accompanied  as  it  was  by  a  crowd  of  happy- 
looking  people,  who  that  man  was. 

The  man  himself  stepped  forward,  saying:  "Do 
you  not  remember  me?  I  am  the  man  who  was 
brought  to  your  bungalow  seven  years  ago,  near  mid- 
night, bitten  by  a  cobra.  Those  that  were  carrying  me 
— for  I  was  insensible — thought  that  I  was  dead  of  the 
cobra  poison,  as  they  laid  my  body  upon  the  veranda 


138       Do  Medical  Missions  Really  Pay? 

in  front  of  your  study  door,  where  you  stood  await- 
ing them  with  remedies  in  your  hands,  for  a  messen- 
ger had  run  swiftly  in  advance  and  wakened  you, 
and  you  were  all  ready.  They  told  me  afterwards 
that  they  had  told  you,  as  they  laid  my  body  down, 
that  it  was  too  late,  as  I  had  died  on  the  way,  but 
that,  if  you  would  allow  them,  they  would  lay  the 
body  down  and  rest  a  little  before  they  carried  it 
away  to  be  cremated  j  but  that  you  immediately  pried 
wide  open  my  set  teeth,  and  dashed  in  some  of  your 
marvel- working  medicine,  and  went  to  work  to  pro- 
duce artificial  respiration,  and  kept  it  up  while  your 
vigorously  administered  remedies,  external  arid  in- 
ternal, could  have  time  to  take  effect,  and  within 
about  an  hour  I  got  up,  and  with  a  little  help  walked 
back  home.  If  anybody  in  the  town  has  reason  to 
show  his  gratitude  and  to  welcome  you  back,  I  am 
that  man." 

A  little  farther  up  the  street,  standing  on  an  up- 
turned flat  packing-box,  so  that  her  feet  and  ankles 
could  well  be  seen,  was  a  venerable  old  lady  kicking 
out  her  right  foot  vigorously,  and  showing  her  ankle 
and  shin. 

Here  the  doctor  had  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  an 
old  Brahman  lady,  who,  when  he  first  came  to  that 
station,  had  been  brought  to  his  house  before  he  had 
opened  his  hospital  and  before  he  had  any  proper 
appliances,  with  a  compound,  comminuted  fracture 


Missionary  Doctor's  Return  Welcome     139 

of  both  bones  of  the  lower  leg,  caused  by  being 
knocked  down  and  trampled  upon  by  a  herd  of 
clumsy  Hindu  domestic  buffaloes  passing  through 
the  street.  The  doctor  had  gone  to  his  little  carpen- 
ter-shop room,  and  himself  made  a  box-splint  suited 
to  the  case,  and  set  the  broken  bones,  and  put  up  the 
leg,  and,  in  answer  to  his  prayer,  so  complete  had 
been  the  recovery  that  the  woman  had  been  able  ever 
since  to  walk  about  freely  without  crutch  or  cane ; 
and  there  she  was  now  to  welcome  him  back. 

At  the  next  street  corner,  on  another  extemporized 
platform,  was  a  very  venerable  old  Brahman  gentle- 
man, with  a  thin,  gray  Brahmanical  tuft  of  hair  on 
the  top  of  his  head,  who  as  the  carriage  came  near 
arose  and  made  the  Brahman's  most  cordial  and 
grateful  salutation.  He  had  years  before  been 
brought  in  on  a  small  bed  "borne  of  four,"  from  a 
village  twenty  miles  away,  lying,  as  was  believed,  at 
the  point  of  death.  He  had  been  cured,  as  he  said, 
by  "  the  missionary  doctor's  medicines  and  prayers." 
He  had  now  come  those  twenty  miles  to  greet  the 
doctor's  return. 

Down  another  street,  as  they  turned  into  it,  stood 
a  farmer  exercising  his  right  hand  and  arm  very 
vigorously,  who  had  been  brought  to  the  doctor 
with  his  right  hand  and  arm  crushed  by  the  wheel  of 
the  chief  idol  car  of  the  place  at  its  annual  drawing, 
before  the  doctor  had  been  three  months  at  the 


140       Do  Medical  Missions  Really  Pay? 

station.  The  hand  and  the  arm  had  been  so  restored 
that  he  had  been  able  to  do  his  farm  work  with  it 
ever  after,  and  he  had  never  since,  as  was  averred, 
raised  that  right  hand  in  worship  to  any  Hindu  idol. 

Farther  on,  was  a  younger  man  opening  and 
shutting  his  mouth  rapidly,  whom  the  doctor  did  not 
at  first  recognize.  On  his  turning  again  to  the  town 
magistrate  the  reply  came,  "He  is  the  young  man 
whose  lower  jaw  was  necrosed,  and  your  honour  took 
out  a  good  portion  of  it,  and  caused  a  new  one  to  grow 
in ;  and  he  is  showing  how  good  a  jaw  you  gave  him." 

As  they  finally  reached  the  hospital  which  the 
doctor  had  built  on  a  little  knoll  just  beyond  the 
town,  an  arch  of  "welcome  "  was  seen  over  the  gate- 
posts, and  the  patients  were  out  on  the  front  veranda 
in  gala  attire  to  greet  the  returning  doctor  and  his 
wife,  and  to  render  a  just  meed  of  praise  to  the  faith- 
ful apothecary  who  had  so  nobly  and  successfully 
carried  on  the  hospital  all  the  time  the  doctor  had 
been  gone. 

Here,  too,  former  patients  gathered.  One  fine, 
robust  young  Hindu  claimed  to  be  the  very  man  who, 
a  short  time  before  the  doctor  had  broken  down,  was 
brought  into  the  hospital  on  a  litter  borne  by  friends 
from  a  distant  village,  when  he  was  at  the  point  of 
death  with  hectic  fever,  caused  by  stone  in  the 
bladder.  After  some  days  of  preparatory  treatment 
the  doctor  had  operated  on  him  and  taken  away  a 


Missionary  Doctor's  Return  Welcome     141 

very  large  double  calculus.  This  had  been  the  most 
serious  case  of  the  kind  the  doctor  had  ever  seen,  and 
he  had  feared  that  the  patient,  in  his  low  state,  might 
not  survive  the  operation.  It  had  been  the  last 
severe  operation  the  doctor  had  performed  before 
leaving  India,  and  the  man  had  not  yet  been  dis- 
charged as  completely  cured  when  he  sailed.  But 
here  the  patient  was,  after  these  years,  in  splendid 
health,  and  loud  in  his  grateful  salutations. 

Then  there  was  old  Shdntappa,  a  former  Sanyasi, 
or  wandering  Hindu  mendicant  priest,  who  on  his 
travels  had  come  to  the  hospital  some  years  before 
from  more  than  two  hundred  miles  away,  with  what 
was  supposed  to  be  an  incurable  disease,  and  had 
asked  to  be  admitted  into  the  hospital.  After  long 
treatment  he  had  been  cured,  and  from  the  preach- 
ing he  had  heard  while  convalescing  he  had  been  led 
to  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  his  all-sufficient  Saviour. 
After  instruction,  he  had  been  baptized  and  after- 
wards married  to  a  Christian  widow,  and  the  two  had 
been  living  witnesses  to  the  power  of  Christ  to  change 
the  lives  of  those  who  have  by  Him  been  healed  of 
the  diseases  of  the  soul. 

Then  there  were,  as  representatives  of  a  mountain 
hamlet  among  the  hills  on  the  western  horizon,  the 
two  leading  men  of  which  had  been  saved  and  cured 
by  surgical  operations  and  medical  treatment,  and 
who  on  their  return  to  their  hamlet  had  so  told  of 


142       Do  Medical  Missions  Really  Pay? 

the  good  news  of  the  Divine  Redeemer,  of  whom  they 
had  heard  while  in  the  hospital,  that  all  the  eleven 
families  of  the  hamlet  had  united  in  sending  for  the 
missionary,  had  embraced  Christianity,  and  had 
witnessed  through  severe  persecution  to  the  sincerity 
of  their  new-found  faith. 

Others  were  there,  to  tell  how  they  too  had  been 
treated  and  cured,  and  to  welcome  again  the  Christian 
missionary  doctor  and  his  wife.  What  touched  these 
the  most  was  the  fact  that  the  welcoming  demonstra- 
tion all  through  the  town  streets  had  been  got  up  and 
arranged  entirely  by  the  non-Christian  community, 
without  any  communication  with  the  mission  people, 
who  had  separately  arranged  their  own  welcome,  not 
knowing  that  the  non-Christians,  who  had  formerly 
been  so  opposed  to  the  missionaries'  opening  work  in 
their  town,  had  any  desire  to  welcome  the  mission- 
aries back. 

As  the  missionary  doctor  and  his  wife  quietly 
drove  home  and  entered  their  little  bungalow,  their 
eyes  were  filled  with  tears  and  their  hearts  with 
thanksgiving  that  God  had  allowed  them  at  length  to 
return  to  such  a  people  and  such  a  work  ;  and  they 
could  not  keep  back  the  expression  of  a  wish  that 
those  who  questioned  whether  medical  missionary 
work  really  pays  among  the  worshippers  of  the 
Hindu  triad,  could  have  witnessed  the  afternoon's 
proceedings. 


VIII 

WOMAN'S  WORK  AN  ESSENTIAL  FACTOR 
IN  INDIA 

HINDUISM  is  indeed  a  most  ancient  system  ; 
for  in  the  days  when  Moses  was  gathering 
together  the  traditions  and,  guided  by  the 
Divine  Spirit,  was  penning  the  account  of  the  creation, 
of  the  fall  of  man,  of  the  coming  Saviour  promised 
to  those  first  sinners  ;  ay,  while  he,  on  the  summit  of 
Mount  Sinai,  was  receiving  from  the  Divine  hand  the 
Ten  Commandments,  that  law  that  to-day  controls  the 
legislation  of  all  the  Christian  world ;  at  that  same 
time  our  ancestors,  the  Aryans,  were  chanting,  as 
we  are  led  to  believe,  the  earlier  hymns  of  the  V6das, 
those  old  books  of  beauty  and  light  that  are  the 
marvel  of  oriental  scholars  at  this  day.  At  that 
time,  the  Aryans  were  a  simple  pastoral  people, 
dwelling  on  the  uplands  of  Central  Asia  with  their 
herds  about  them,  in  pastoral  life  much  as  Abraham 
lived  in  "  the  south  country  "  and  in  the  Holy  Land. 
There  is  a  pleasant  little  reminder  of  that  time  in 
one  of  the  sweetest  words  that  comes  upon  a  father's 
lips,  "daughter"  ;  for  the  peculiar  spelling  of  that 
word  leads  us  back  to  its  history.  In  those  early 

'43 


144 


Woman's  Work 


times  of  our  Aryan  ancestors  the  eldest  daughter  had 
charge  of  the  dairy,  and  she  was  called  the  dahtri  in 
Sanskrit,  which  means  the  "dairymaid,"  and  that 
has  passed  down  through  the  languages  and  is  now 
our  "  daughter."  For  all  oriental  scholars  agree  that 
our  sweet  word  "  daughter  "  comes  from  the  pastoral 
life  before  the  Aryan  women  had  been  secluded  and 
cut  off  from  their  fair  share  of  family  affairs,  and 
when  they  had  not  yet  fallen1  into  idolatry,  super- 
stition, and  consequent  degradation. 

After  our  ancestors  had  migrated  into  Europe,  the 
other  branch  of  the  Aryan  family,  passing  through 
the  Himalaya  Mountains,  migrated  down  upon  the 
northern  provinces  of  India,  and,  conquering  them, 
held  them  under  their  sway  for  a  time.  But,  de- 
termining not  to  go  on  conquering,  they  scattered 
themselves  all  through  the  peninsula  of  India,  not  as 
military  conquerors  but  as  priests  and  teachers, 
introducing  their  religious  system,  Hinduism  or 
Brahmanism,  all  through  India  among  the  forty  or 
more  distinct  languages  and  peoples  then  inhabiting 
that  land,  inducing  them  all  to  embrace  their  religious 
system.  But  during  this  migration  over  into  India, 
and  before  they  had  gone  on  downward  into  the 
peninsula,  a  second  series  of  religious  books  was 
evolved,  known  as  the  Shastras  and  the  Puranas, 
which,  though  theoretically  of  secondary  authority, 
in  time  took  the  place  of  and  in  effect  buried  the 


Si 

81 

Q   fc 


An  Essential  Factor  in  India  145 

Vedas,  so  that  the  Vedas  have  hardly  been  known 
through  the  last  2,000  years,  not  known  at  all  to  the 
people,  and  only  partially  known  to  the  Brahman 
priests. 

These  later  books  were  those  in  which  was  first 
inculcated  the  idea  of  the  Hindu  triad,  Brahma, 
Vishnu,  and  Siva ;  Brahina  the  creator,  Vishnu  the 
preserver,  and  Siva  the  destroyer,  of  all  things. 
They  first  introduced  the  millions  of  subordinate 
deities,  ranged  under  the  headship  of  the  different 
members  of  the  triad.  They  also  first  introduced 
idolatry  and  the  division  of  all  the  people  of  India 
into  castes.  They  first  taught  that  there  were 
different  creations,  the  Brahmans  being  created  from 
the  brain  of  Brahma,  a  separate  creation  of  holier 
beings,  and  the  other  castes  created  one  after  another, 
each  less  in  dignity  as  well  as  in  purity  and  in 
worth. 

Thus  did  caste  and  polytheism  and  idolatry,  and 
the  dethronement  and  the  seclusion  of  womanhood, 
originate  in  that  land,  for  from  that  day  the  women 
of  the  higher  castes  have  been  almost  shut  out  from 
the  light  of  day.  They  have  lost  the  position  that 
they  held  under  the  earlier  Vedic  Aryans,  and,  as  is 
known,  are  almost  enslaved  in  India ;  for  in  the  higher 
castes  a  girl  from  the  time  she  becomes  marriageable 
until  she  is  a  grandmother,  or  until  she  has  sons  that 
are  married,  is  secluded  from  the  world  and  cannot 


146  Woman's  Work 

enjoy  the  light  of  the  sun,  except  as  it  creeps  in  at 
the  barred  windows  of  her  zenana. 

Among  those  Shastras  were  "the  Laws  of  Manu." 
Manu  was  the  great  lawgiver  of  the  Hindus,  whose 
laws  are  to  this  day  more  binding  upon  the  Hindus 
than  ever  were  the  laws  of  Moses  binding  upon  the 
Jews.  He  gave  a  code  of  laws  affecting  every  sphere 
and  act  of  Hindu  life.  In  those  laws  is  defined  the 
position  of  woman.  Time  fails  me  to  make  extended 
quotations,  as  I  might  do,  to  show  the  position  to 
which  woman  has  been  reduced,  and  to  what  enslave- 
ment she  is  still  subject.  I  will  give  but  a  single 
instance,  from  the  fifth  chapter  of  the  laws  of  Manu, 
the  146th  and  following  verses  : 

"  Hear  now,"  says  the  lawgiver  ;  lt  hear  now  the 
laws  concerning  women.  By  a  girl,  by  a  damsel,  by 
a  woman  nothing  must  be  done,  even  in  her  own 
dwelling-place,  according  to  her  own  pleasure.  In 
childhood  must  a  female  be  dependent  on  her  father ; 
in  youth,  on  her  husband  ;  her  lord  being  dead,  on 
her  sons  ;  if  she  have  no  sons,  on  the  near  kinsmen 
of  her  husband  ;  if  he  have  no  kinsmen,  on  those  of 
her  father  ;  if  she  have  no  paternal  kinsmen,  then  on 
her  sovereign.  A  woman  must  never  seek  independ- 
ence— an  iron-bound  law  that  holds  and  enslaves 
Hindu  women  even  to  the  present  day. 

She  must  never  think  for  herself ;  and,  as  we  read 
on  in  his  code,  we  have  the  declaration  that  a  woman 


An  Essential  Factor  in  India  147 

can  never  seek  for  and  never  attain  immortality  of 
herself,  that  her  only  chance  in  a  future  life  is  as  the 
slave  of  her  "lord,"  that  is  her  husband;  for  all 
must  marry.  There  are  practically  no  old  bachelors 
in  India  ;  there  are  no  "  old  maids"  ;  it  is  Manu's 
decree  that  every  one  must  marry. 

Manu's  rule  for  marriage  is  specific  with  reference 
to  men  as  well  as  to  women  ;  for  he  says  in  the  book 
on  the  course  of  study  of  the  young  Brahman,  the 
fourth  and  tenth  verses  : 

"Let  the  student  of  the  Vedas,  having  finished  his 
course  of  study  with  his  preceptor,  espouse  a  wife  of 
the  same  class  as  himself  and  endued  with  the  marks 
of  excellence;"  and  then  he  goes  on  to  tell  what 
those  marks  are : 

' '  Let  him  choose  for  his  wife  a  girl  whose  form  has 
no  defect,  who  has  a  name  of  good  omen,  whose  body 
has  exquisite  softness,  whose  hair  and  teeth  are  mod- 
erate in  quantity  and  size,  who  walks  gracefully  like 
a  young  elephant."  And  though  he  does  not  find 
one  of  that  kind,  he  must  nevertheless  marry  ;  for  a 
proverb,  one  quoted  on  all  occasions,  says,  "Get  a 
good  wife  if  you  can  ;  if  not,  take  a  bad  one  ;  marry 
you  must !" 

Woman  in  India,  even  at  the  present  day,  is  so- 
cially ignored.  A  native  judge  came  one  day  to 
make  a  call  of  courtesy  upon  me.  As  we  were  talk- 
ing I  said  to  him,  "  Have  you  a  family  ?  " 


148  Woman's  Work 


"No." 

"Aren't  you  married  ?  " 


"  Yes,  I  have  a  wife." 

'  '  But,  '  '  said  I,  *  '  who  were  those  little  girls  that  I  saw 
playing  around  your  house  the  other  day  as  I  passed  !  " 

"Oh,  yes,  I  have  some  girls."  He  had  no  sons, 
and  therefore  said  that  he  had  no  family. 

The  Hindus  look,  as  you  will  judge  from  this, 
upon  boys  as  a  blessing  and  upon  girls  as  the  oppo- 
site ;  upon  boys  as  a  sign  of  divine  favour,  upon  the 
birth  of  a  girl  as  a  sign  of  divine  displeasure.  When 
you  hear  from  your  neighbour  that  there  is  a  birth  in 
his  house,  you  send  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  a  case 
for  condolence  or  congratulation.  If  a  boy,  you  send 
congratulations  ;  if  a  girl,  it  is  a  case  for  condolence. 
"When  our  fifth  son  was  born  in  succession,  there  was 
no  little  talk  all  through  that  region,  for  I  had  had 
patients  from  nearly  every  town  within  sixty  miles. 
But  when  the  sixth  son  was  born,  a  round  half  dozen 
"  without  a  single  girl  to  spoil  it  all,"  as  they  said,  it 
caused  no  small  stir  among  all  the  people,  and  mes- 
sengers came  to  me  from  distinguished  people  and 
old  patients  from  distant  places,  with  little  presents, 
and  incense,  and  such  things,  with  their  special  con- 
gratulations, for  they  thought  it  well  to  stand  on  good 
terms  with  a  man  that  evidently  was  so  highly  ap- 
preciated up  yonder  as  to  have  six  sons  and  no 
daughters. 


An  Essential  Factor  in  India  149 

There  came  among  them  a  mounted  messenger 
from  a  native  Bajah,  whose  dominions  were  adjacent 
to  my  headquarters,  and  who  had  been  a  patient  of 
mine  in  former  years,  a  mounted  messenger,  in  bril- 
liant livery,  bringing  the  royal  congratulations  and 
diverse  gifts,  and  asking  that  the  Eajah  might  be  per- 
mitted himself  to  come  in  and  see  the  distinguished 
little  stranger.  In  a  few  days  in  he  came  with  his 
retinue,  his  camels  and  elephants,  and  bedecked  at- 
tendants, and  was  not  satisfied  until  he  was  seated 
in  my  library,  with  the  sixth  son  in  his  arms.  As 
he  sat  there  dandling  him  and  making  very  ful- 
some speeches  which  I  did  not  enjoy,  thinking  to 
bring  him  to  a  better  mind,  I  said  :  "But,  your 
Highness,  both  his  mother  and  I  are  very  much  dis- 
appointed that  it  was  not  a  daughter."  "Abba! 
abba!7'  he  said,  striking  his  hand  over  his  mouth, 
the  gesture  of  utter  consternation.  He  thought  I  was 
getting  daft,  because  I  wanted  a  daughter  instead  of 
a  son.  Wishing  still  to  convince  him,  I  said,  "But, 
your  Highness,  where  would  you  and  I  be  were  it  not 
for  our  mothers ! "  "  Ah,  yes,"  said  he,  "  but  there 
are  sinners  enough  in  the  world,  so  that  there  is  going 
to  be  no  dearth  of  girls.  There  is  no  need  for  the  ex- 
cellent to  have  daughters."  Family  discipline  in 
India  is  rather  a  peculiar  thing ;  for  a  man  includes 
his  wife  among  those  over  whom  such  discipline 
must  be  exercised. 


150  Woman's  Work 

One  day,  as  I  passed  by  my  well-to-do  Hindu 
neighbour's  house,  I  heard  significant  screams  and 
blows.  The  screams,  I  knew,  were  not  those  of  a  child. 
The  next  time  I  saw  that  neighbour  I  courteously  re- 
proved him  for  beating  his  wife.  "Well,  yes,"  he 
said,  "  she  did  make  me  awful  angry  that  day,  and  I 
suppose  I  did  beat  her  a  little  too  hard." 

"  But  you  should  not  beat  your  wife  at  all." 

"Not  beat  my  wife?  How  in  the  world  would 
family  discipline  be  maintained  if  I  did  not?"  he 
said. 

"  But  I  never  beat  my  wife,"  said  I. 

"  Oh,  she !  She  is  a  different  sort  of  creature."  I 
thanked  God  that  she  was. 

According  to  the  laws  of  Manu,  according  to  the 
immemorial  custom  of  the  Hindus,  a  woman,  up  to 
within  the  past  few  years,  could  not  be  allowed  to 
learn  to  read.  The  lawgiver  Manu  expressly  forbids 
a  woman  ever  to  read  the  V6das.  When  I  first  went 
to  India,  to  ask  a  Hindu  female  if  she  could  read  was 
an  insult,  for  then  none  but  the  dancing-girls — and 
every  one  knows  who  they  are — none  but  the  dancing- 
girls  were  ever  allowed  to  read.  They  were  taught 
to  read  and  sing  and  to  be  adepts  in  every  physical 
grace,  and  bewitching  gesture.  There  is  the  sore 
spot  of  India,  a  spot  that  can  only  be  healed  by  the 
touch  of  Christ's  daughters,  coming  there  and  rescu- 
ing those  three  millions  of  dancing-girls  ;  there  are 


An  Essential  Factor  in  India  151 

said  to  be  that  number,  even  in  this  day  of  dawning 
enlightenment,  scattered  throughout  India.  And 
what  makes  it  still  worse  is  the  fact  that  good,  re- 
spectable native  families  do  not  hesitate  to  devote 
one  of  their  daughters,  ay,  the  choicest  one,  to  that 
temple  service  "for  the  gods,"  as  they  term  it,  giv- 
ing them  over  to  live  the  life  of  a  temple  courtesan, 
under  the  name  of  devotion  to  the  deity. 

When  I  first  began  practicing  medicine  and  sur- 
gery in  India,  before  I  had  learned  as  much  as  I 
now  know  about  their  religious  ideas  and  customs, 
there  came  one  day  a  mother  of  a  respectable 
merchant's  family  in  our  town,  bringing  her  daughter 
to  the  woman's  ward  of  my  hospital  to  be  treated  for 
a  disease,  the  result  of  sin-impurity.  I  said  to  the 
mother,  "Where  is  your  daughter's  husband1?" 
There  was  a  smile  at  once  around  among  the  females 
who  had  come  with  her.  "  Oh,  the  temple  gods  and 
temple  Brahmans  are  her  husband  ;  "  was  the  reply. 
And  there,  without  a  sense  of  shame,  she  was  parad- 
ing the  fact.  I  learned  that  when  her  husband  was 
sick,  a  little  after  this  daughter's  birth,  they  made  a 
vow  to  their  gods  that  if  he  recovered  they  would  give 
that  daughter  to  that  temple  service.  Oh,  the  sore 
spot  of  India  ;  how  it  makes  one's  heart  ache  as  we 
see  it  there !  how  the  odour  of  it  reaches  up  to 
heaven  !  Even  Hindus  who  still  cling  to  their  system 
are  now  acknowledging  the  fearful  wretchedness  of 


152  Woman's  Work 

this  practice,  and  are  inveighing  against  it.  The 
Daily  Hindu,  an  orthodox  Hindu  newspaper 
published  in  Madras,  recently  said  in  one  of  its 
issues,  in  speaking  of  the  Hindu  priesthood  as  it  now 
exists  (I  quote  the  exact  words  of  its  editor)  : 

"Profoundly  ignorant  as  a  class,  and  infinitely 
selfish,  our  priesthood  is  the  mainstay  of  every  un- 
holy, immoral,  and  cruel  custom  and  superstition  in 
our  midst,  from  the  wretched  dancing-girl,  who  in- 
sults the  deity  by  her  existence,  to  the  pining  child- 
widow,  whose  every  tear,  and  every  hair  of  whose 
head,  shall  rise  up  against  every  one  of  us  who  toler- 
ate it,  on  the  Day  of  Judgment.  Of  such  a  priestly 
class  our  women  are  the  ignorant  tools  and  dupes." 

If  a  missionary  had  said  that,  he  would  have  been 
prosecuted  for  libel.  The  Hindu  editor  said  it,  and 
was  guiltless,  for  all  his  readers  knew  it  was  true,  and 
yet  the  dancing-girls  are  still  immolated  day  by  day 
in  India,  for  the  mothers  of  India,  still  held  in  that 
superstition  in  which  they  have  been  reared,  helped 
on  by  this  very  Brahman  priesthood,  whom  they  fear 
and  dread,  will  still  consecrate  their  loveliest  daugh- 
ters to  this  " service  of  the-gods." 

Woman  is  indeed  the  stronghold  of  superstition 
and  of  this  clinging  to  the  ancient  religious  ordinances 
in  all  circumstances,  and  women,  in  religious  matters, 
have  the  power.  Though  enslaved  in  all  other 
respects,  as  I  before  said,  woman  has  in  this  her  un- 


An  Essential  Factor  in  India  153 

disputed  power,  and  well  does  she  exercise  it. 
"  Well,"  did  I  say  ?  Ah,  the  devils  would  say  amen 
to  that,  for  she  throws  her  influence  in  their  behalf, 
and  thoroughly  does  she  exercise  that  power  in  her 
family  and  out  of  it.  The  only  time  I  believe  in  my 
life  in  India  where  I  utterly  failed  at  last  in  securing 
an  audience  in  street  preaching  was  once  when  two 
of  us  missionaries  went  at  dawn  of  day  to  a  village  of 
farmers  where  the  women  who  were  mothers  could  go 
outside  after  they  were  mothers.  We  had  gathered 
an  audience  of  men  and  were  preaching  of  the  way 
of  getting  rid  of  sin  through  a  crucified  Redeemer. 

The  women  seeing  at  once  that  their  faith  was 
threatened  by  these  foreigners  ;  that  their  gods  would 
be  deserted  if  our  preaching  were  received ;  flew  to 
the  rescue  of  the  men,  and  coming  out  in  force, 
began  to  abuse  us  in  the  foulest  language  that  it  was 
possible  for  human  lips  to  utter.  Seeing  that  we 
were  not  driven  away  by  that,  but  were  determined 
to  go  on  preaching,  and  that  the  men  were  still  in- 
clined to  attend  to  what  we  said,  they  turned  their 
tactics  upon  the  men  who  were  listening  and  drove 
one  and  another  away.  Some  of  them  still  stood 
hearing  what  we  were  saying.  They  then  began  to 
say  to  one  and  to  another,  "  Ah,  yes,  you  are  listen- 
ing there,  are  you?  Yes,  yon  listen  a  little  longer, 
and  I  will  tell  your  wife  what  house  I  saw  you  com- 
ing out  of  about  daylight  this  morning  as  I  was  pass- 


154  Woman's  Work 

ing  by ; "  and  though  the  man  knew  it  was  a  lie  and 
his  accuser  did,  too,  for  she  had  never  seen  him 
under  those  circumstances,  yet,  dazed,  he  slunk  away 
around  the  near-by  house  and  disappeared.  And 
then  they  began  upon  another  man  and  told  him  if 
he  didn't  leave  there  they  would  tell  his  wife  what 
they  saw  him  do  in  such  a  bazaar  town  at  such  a 
time  j  and  so  they  went  on  singling  them  out  one  by 
one  until  every  man  in  the  street  had  disappeared  and 
the  women  were  masters  of  the  situation.  Yes,  the 
power  they  have  over  their  husbands  and  their  sons 
in  matters  of  their  religion  is  wonderful.  You  in 
America  can  scarcely  understand  it.  It  stands  as  a 
wall  of  adamant  barring  the  progress  of  the  Gospel. 

Yet  a  rift  in  that  wall  is  becoming  evident.  An 
opening  for  women  to  enter  has  been  made  within  the 
last  forty  years.  The  young  men  of  India  have 
largely  been  gathered  in  mission  schools  and  educated 
for  the  last  seven  decades.  Their  white  brothers, 
missionaries,  have  gone  forth  from  America,  from 
England,  from  Germany,  from  many  Christian  lands, 
and  established  those  schools,  and  have  been  instruct- 
ing the  young  men.  The  missionary's  wife  has  es- 
tablished schools  for  the  children,  the  boys  as  well, 
and  they  have  come  and  learned  and  have  become  to 
some  degree  emancipated.  Some  forty  or  fifty  years 
ago  when  we  had  prize-givings  in  our  Christian  girls' 
schools  and  invited  non-Christian  gentlemen  to  come 


An  Essential  Factor  in  India 

in  and  witness  the  examinations  and  the  prize  distri- 
bution, these  educated  Hindus,  officials  many  of 
them,  would  come  and  listen  to  the  answers  that  these 
girls  gave  to  the  questions,  and  to  the  sweet  songs 
that  they  sang,  and  noting  how  their  countenances 
gleamed  with  intelligence  and  joy,  would  say  to  one 
another,  "  Well,  if  education  can  do  that  for  the  low- 
born Christian  girls,  what  would  it  not  do  for  our 
high-born  wives,  our  daughters,  our  sisters  ;  "  and  so 
they  began  to  desire  an  education  for  their  sisters  and 
daughters. 

This  work  gives  the  opening  for  the  daughters  of 
England,  America,  and  Germany,  for  the  daughters 
of  all  Christian  nations,  to  come  in  there  and  wield  a 
power  that  no  male  missionary  can  wield  for  Christ 
in  India ;  for  soon  there  were  organized  separate 
schools  for  high  caste  Hindu  girls  as  they  feared  to 
come  into  our  Christian  girls'  school  and  they  were 
lovingly,  diligently  taught,  and  those  missionary 
ladies  that  went  there  and  taught  them  ...  I 
know,  for  I  have  seen  scores  and  hundreds  of  these 
schools  in  all  parts  of  India  ;  and  have  helped  to 
found  them  and  carry  them  on  ...  those  mis- 
sionary ladies  would  never  teach  in  such  a  school 
without  teaching  the  highest  of  all  wisdom,  the 
knowledge  of  God.  Those  Hindu  girls  coming  to 
these  schools  would  with  their  other  lessons  learn  to 
sing  the  songs  of  redeeming  love,  would  learn  verses 


156  Woman's   Work 

and  chapters  in  the  Gospels,  would  learn  about  the 
life  of  Jesus  Christ  on  earth,  and  the  wonderful 
words  that  He  spoke,  the  deeds  that  He  did,  and 
would  go  to  their  homes  and  repeat  them  in  the 
zenanas. 

I  would  the  reader  might  go  with  me  to  one  of 
those  schools,  where  two  American  college  girls  with 
the  love  of  God  in  their  hearts,  secured  a  foothold 
and  began  their  work.  I  would  that  you  could  go 
with  me  to  one  of  those  schools  and  see  the  scores  of 
high  caste  Hindu  girls,  and  see  their  beaming  faces, 
and  hear  the  story  of  one  of  them  as  I  heard  it  after- 
wards. 

She  had  learned  in  the  school  a  sweet  Telugu 
hymn.  As  she  went  in  to  her  home  one  day  from 
school  she  was  singing  that  hymn,  and  as  she  went  in 
her  grandmother  said,  "Why,  little  Lotus  Blossom, 
little  Kamala-Pu,  that  is  a  nice  song  you  are  singing ; 
come  sing  us  some  more  of  it,  so  that  we  all  can  hear 
it."  And  there  in  the  zenana,  where  no  ray  of  di- 
vine light  had  ever  entered,  where  the  name  of  Jesus 
had  never  been  heard,  where  they  worshipped  only 
the  gods  that  were  enshrined  within  the  house,  there 
the  little  girl  sang,  in  Telugu  : 

"Yesu  nanim  premistu 
Tana  yodda  pilchenn, 
Dan  n  i  satya  Vedanm, 
Naku  bailu  partsunu.  * 


An  Essential  Factor  in  India  157 


"Yesu  premintsnnu, 
Nannu  preinintsunu, 
Nannu  premintsuuu, 
Ma  Veda  oheppenu." 

In  English  it  is  : 

"  Jesus  loves  me,  this  I  know, 
For  the  Bible  tells  me  so. 
Little  ones  to  Him  belong, 
We  are  weak,  bat  He  is  strong. 

"  Yes,  Jesns  loves  me  ; 
Yes,  Jesus  loves  me ; 
Yes,  Jesus  loves  me ; 
The  Bible  tells  me  so." 

"  Who  is  that  Yesu  that  you  are  singing  about  t " 
asked  the  old  grandmother  as  the  mother  and  the 
aunts  and  sisters  were  all  gathered  around  listening, 
for  it  was  at  a  time  of  day  when  they  had  no  house- 
work going  on.  "Who  is  that  Jesus?  Tell  us  all 
about  it." 

"  Why,  Yesu  is  the  one  the  missionary  ladies  say 
is  the  Son  of  God,  who  came  from  heaven  to  earth 
and  took  upon  Himself  our  form,  the  form  of  man, 
and  lived  in  this  world  for  more  than  thirty  years. 
They  say  He  came  and  lived  here  that  so  He  might 
take  away  our  sins  and  make  a  way  for  us  to  get  to 
heaven." 

"You  sang  'the  Bible  tells  us  so.'  What  is  the 
Bible  1 "  asked  the  mother.  "The  missionary  ladies 


158  Woman's  Work 

say  the  Bible  is  the  book  God  has  given  to  tell  us 
how  we  can  get  rid  of  sin,  to  tell  us  all  about  this 
Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  and  how,  when  we  die,  we  can 
go  to  heaven,"  answered  Kamala-Pu.  "Can  we 
women  go  to  heaven?  Does  Jesus  love  women?" 
"Us,  old  women,  too?"  asked  the  grandmother. 
"Yes,  yes,  just  as  much  women  as  men  ;"  replied 
little  Lotus  Blossom  ;  and  there  light  first  penetrated 
that  household,  and  each  day,  as  she  went  home,  they 
would  have  her  sing,  and  their  souls  were  enlight- 
ened in  that  dark  house  by  the  light  let  in  by  some 
of  the  missionary  number  who  had  gone  on  that 
God -sent  mission. 

And  then  our  medical  work  :  Some  of  our  mis- 
sionary lady  doctors  could  tell  of  the  grand  openings 
that  God  has  given  them  through  their  Christlike 
service.  It  opens  the  hearts  as  it  opens  the  houses. 
When  the  body  is  healed  how  tender  the  heart  is 
towards  the  one  that  has  effected  the  healing.  I  could 
give  many  instances  of  results  gained  by  such  med- 
ical work.  Let  me  cite  but  one  from  my  own  ex- 
perience as  a  sample. 

My  camp  was  pitched  in  a  mango  grove  fifteen 
miles  from  my  station  and  I  was  going  out  from  it 
every  morning  at  sunrise  preaching  in  two  or  three 
of  the  surrounding  villages,  and  coming  back  at  eight 
or  nine  o'clock.  I  would  spend  the  remainder  of  the 
day  in  treating  the  sick  that  had  come  together ;  for, 


An  Essential  Factor  in  India  159 

by  the  time  I  got  back  to  my  tent,  the  tent  would  be 
surrounded  with  those  that  had  come  from  the 
near-by  villages,  yes,  and  from  six  to  eight  miles 
away,  too,  for  treatment. 

On  the  second  morning — for  I  remained  a  week  or 
ten  days  in  that  one  centre,  there  being  so  many 
villages  around,  as  I  came  back  to  my  tent  from  the 
morning  preaching,  among  those  that  were  waiting 
to  be  treated  I  saw  a  beautiful  faced  old  Brahman 
grandmother,  for  they  can  appear  in  public  after 
they  are  grandmothers.  She  had  in  her  arms  her 
little  grandson,  who  was  suffering  from  an  acute  form 
of  tropical  dysentery,  and  as  their  doctors  said  he 
could  not  live,  she  had  brought  him  to  the  foreign 
doctor  to  see  if  I  could  save  him.  I  examined  into 
the  case  carefully  and  gave  the  needed  medicines. 
Always  before  treating  the  sick  I  took  out  my  chair 
and  sat  down  with  the  people  under  the  trees,  and 
read  from  the  Bible  and  preached  to  them  of  Him 
who  could  heal  the  maladies  of  the  soul,  as  well  as 
the  diseases  of  the  body.  How  that  old  lady  drank 
in  the  message !  I  was  much  attracted  to  her  day 
after  day.  How  grateful  she  was,  and  how  she 
listened  to  the  story  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour  !  I 
passed  on  with  my  tent  to  another  centre.  Within 
a  year  a  village  near  by  that  of  the  old  Brahman  lady 
peopled  by  Mala  (low  caste)  farmers  and  weavers,  came 
over  to  Christianity.  I  sought  to  obtain  a  piece  of 


160  Woman's  Work 

land  to  build  a  little  schoolhou.se,  and  a  house  for  the 
catechist-teacher  to  live  in,  and  was  surprised  that 
the  Brahman  head  official  of  that  village,  the  ad- 
joining caste  village  (for  the  land  was  between  the 
caste  village  and  the  Mala  village)  favoured  our 
purchase,  and  enabled  us  to  get  the  land.  I  could 
not  understand  why  he  had  done  so,  for  Brahmaus 
usually  oppose  us  ;  but  on  enquiry  I  found  that  he 
was  the  son  of  the  old  lady  that  had  brought  her 
grandson  there  for  healing,  and  it  was  his  little  son 
that  was  cured. 

A  catechist  and  his  wife,  a  thorough- working 
Hindu  Christian  woman  she  was,  one  of  the  most 
spiritually  minded  women  I  knew,  were  sent  there, 
and  lived  in  that  little  house,  instructing  the  new 
converts  and  preaching  to  all  around.  Through  the 
interposition  of  this  Brahman  lady,  they  were  allowed 
to  draw  water  from  the  caste  well  of  the  town,  a 
strange  thing,  and  yet  it  was  done.  And  night  by 
night,  when  all  was  still,  out  from  her  street  in  the 
caste  village  would  come  this  old  grandmother.  The 
grandchild's  mother  was  dead,  and  she  had  charge 
of  him.  When  the  grandchild  was  asleep  she  would 
come  out  to  the  catechist' s  house.  Sometimes  as  late 
as  ten  o'clock  at  night,  as  they  were  about  to  retire, 
there  would  be  a  gentle  tap  on  the  door.  On  open- 
ing the  door  they  would  see  the  countenance  of  this 
old  lady.  "Oh,  sister,"  she  would  say  to  the  cate- 


An  Essential  Factor  in  India  161 

chist's  wife,  "won't  you  let  me  hear  you  read  a  little 
more  about  your  Jesus?"  And  in  she  would  come 
and  sit  down,  and  they  would  read  and  talk  about 
Jesus  Christ  the  Divine  Eedeemer.  So  it  went  on  for 
weeks  and  mouths.  Tears  would  often  run  down  her 
cheeks.  "Oh,"  she  would  say,  as  they  pled  with 
her  to  become  a  Christian,  "  Oh,  I  do  believe  in  your 
Jesus,  I  do  love  your  dear  Jesus,  but  how  can  I  come 
out  and  be  baptized  and  openly  embrace  Him  as  my 
Saviour.  My  Brahman  son  would  kill  me.  If  he 
did  not  kill  me  the  other  Brahmans  would  cast  him 
out,  and  he  would  lose  everything.  No,  I  cannot  do 
it,  I  cannot  do  it.  But  will  not  your  dear  Jesus 
accept  me  as  I  am  ?  Oh,  I  do  love  Him  ;  I  do  wish 
I  could  take  His  name  upon  my  forehead  ;  but  don't 
you  think,  don't  you  think,  that  He  will  receive  me 
without  it?" 

It  was  but  a  few  months  later  that  the  catechist 
and  his  wife  had  to  leave  the  place  on  transfer. 
There  was  to  be  no  catechist  there  for  a  time.  The 
last  night  before  they  left  she  came  for  her  final 
interview — the  final  reading  about  Jesus.  As  the 
tears  were  rolling  down  her  cheeks,  "Oh,"  she  said, 
"sister,  sister,  how  can  I  let  you  go,  for  nobody  will 
tell  me  any  more  about  that  Jesus,  and  I  do  love 
Him."  I  was  then  ill  and  had  to  leave  for  America. 
When  I  went  back,  I  at  once  visited  that  village  and 
found  that  the  old  Brahman  lady  had  died,  during 


162  Woman's  Work 

the  famine  that  had  intervened,  not  of  starvation, 
but  of  disease  following  the  famine.  Her  son  remains 
our  friend  to  this  day,  in  spite  of  those  who  counsel 
him  to  oppose  us.  The  old  lady  had  gone,  and  there 
among  the  redeemed  I  believe  that  she  is  found,  for 
she  was,  I  doubt  not,  one  of  "  Christ's  hidden  ones" 
in  that  dark  land.  Ay,  many  a  doctor  in  India,  many 
a  lady  doctor  who  has  gone  into  the  zenanas  and 
cured  diseases,  who  has  gone  in  desperate  cases  and 
relieved  anxieties  and  wounds,  knows  that  there  are, 
here  and  there,  those  whose  hearts  have  been 
touched,  whose  hopes  and  desires  and  prayers  have 
gone  up  to  that  Saviour  whose  name  they  dare  not 
utter,  for  such  is  the  bondage  in  which  all  those 
women  are  bound. 

But  a  bright  gleam  of  hope  for  India  now  glad- 
dens the  horizon,  for  India's  daughters  and  wives 
and  mothers  are  at  last  being  reached  and  educated, 
and  never  again  will  they  be  held  in  that  super- 
stitious bondage  in  which  their  mothers  have  been 
so  long  enthralled.  The  rising  generation  of  sons 
will  not  have  to  face  that  fearful  opposition  from 
their  mothers  that  the  present  generation  has  had  to 
face.  Young  man  after  young  man  has  come  to  see 
me,  saying,  "Sir,  I  would  be  a  Christian  but  my 
wife  would  not  come  with  me.  She  opposes  me  in 
everything  pertaining  to  my  inquiries  into  and  lean- 
ing towards  Christianity.  My  mother,  too,  would 


An  Essential  Factor  in  India  163 

curse  ine,  would  curse  the  day  of  my  birth,  would 
kill  herself,  if  she  did  not  kill  me,  in  case  I  became 
a  Christian.  No,  sir  ;  let  your  ladies  come  and  bring 
our  women  to  the  light,  as  you  are  bringing  the  men, 
and  then  we  will  come  together  and  will  all  be  Chris- 
tians." 


IX 

HIGH  CASTE  HINDU  GIRLS'  SCHOOLS,  AND 
THEIR  FRUITAGE:  VISHNU  SIROMANI 


nr 


O  illustrate  one  phase  of  woman's  work  in 
India,  to  which  reference  was  made  iii  the 

•*•  preceding  chapter,  and  to  show  how  it  aids 
in  the  progress  of  "the  Kingdom,"  I  give  here  the 
story  of  Vishnu  Siromani,  as  I  had  it  from  the  zenaua 
missionary  lady  who  was  the  most  concerned  in  her 
conversion,  who  knew  the  most  about  her  perse- 
cution, her  escape  and  her  subsequent  history,  and 
who  vouched  for  the  facts. 

In  the  large  inland  town  of  Pudupetta  was  a  high 
caste  Hindu  girls'  school,  under  the  supervision  of 
Miss  B.,  in  which  was  a  very  bright  girl  named 
Vishnu  Siromani  (Vishnu's  crown -jewel)  daughter 
of  a  rich  Komati,  which  is  one  of  the  highest  mer- 
chant caste. 

This  school  had  been  established  just  off  the 
Komati  street  of  that  town  a  few  years  before. 
Some  of  Vishnu  Siromani' s  playmates  had  begun  to 
attend,  and  Sir6mani,  as  she  was  usually  called,  had 
one  day  gone  with  them  as  a  visitor.  She  had  with 
envy  watched  the  girls  read  and  write,  and  with  de- 
light heard  them  sing  some  of  the  sweet  songs  of  Jesus, 

164 


Vishnu  Siromani  165 

and  had  seen  them  do  the  embroidery  work  which 
was  being  taught  them.  Begging  a  sample  of  the 
latter  as  a  loan,  she  had  taken  it  home  with  her  to  show 
her  parents  and  asked  them  to  allow  her  to  attend 
the  school.  Her  father  was  one  of  the  most  bigoted 
of  that  exclusive  caste,  and  angrily  refused  his  per- 
mission, and  told  his  daughter  that  education  was 
not  for  women  ;  that  of  course  her  brothers  must  go 
to  school  to  learn  to  read  and  write  and  keep  their 
accounts  as  merchants,  and  to  write  letters  to  order 
their  goods ;  but  that  girls  did  not  need  learning. 
' '  Look  at  your  mother  !  She  cannot  read,  yet  is  there 
a  better  mother  or  a  neater  housekeeper  in  all  Pudu- 
petta  than  your  mother?  If  you  learn  all  house- 
hold duties  well,  that  is  enough  for  you.  Give  up 
this  nonsense  and  behave  yourself,  child,  if  you  wish 
to  make  your  father  happy  and  yourself  to  be  highly 
thought  of  by  our  caste  people,  from  whom  we  shall, 
one  of  these  days,  wish  to  ask  one  of  the  young  men 
as  your  husband.  Be  a  good  girl." 

But  Siromani  was  not  satisfied.  Though  for  the 
time  she  dropped  the  subject,  she  went  quietly  every 
now  and  then  to  see  her  mates,  who  were  attending 
the  school  and  envied  them  their  progress,  and  de- 
termined in  some  way  to  gain  her  father's  consent 
to  join  them  in  school.  She  got  them  to  show  her 
the  alphabet  and  the  first  book,  and,  being  very 
bright,  she  soon  learned  from  them  her  letters,  and 


166       High  Caste  Hindu  Girls'  Schools 

to  read  simple  sentences.  One  day  she  produced  the 
book  and  read  a  few  sentences  to  her  astonished 
father  and  earnestly  begged  him  to  let  her  go  to 
school. 

At  last  he  consented.  She  was  then  twelve  years 
old.  She  soon  took  first  rank  in  the  class  of  begin- 
ners and  was  promoted  and  went  on  rapidly  in  her 
education. 

Nothing  in  the  school,  however,  so  interested  her 
as  the  singing,  and  though  nearly  all  the  songs  sung 
by  the  girls  were  lyrics  in  praise  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
setting  forth  His  love,  she  learned  them  rapidly  and 
sang  them  with  real  fervour.  The  Gospel  stories  of 
the  birth  and  life,  and  doings  and  sayings,  of  this 
Jesus  Christ  also  entranced  her,  and  though  she 
said  nothing  of  it  at  home,  for  fear  of  being  taken 
out  of  school,  she  soon  began  to  wish  that  she  too 
could  be  a  disciple  of  that  Jesus,  and  have  Him  as 
her  King  and  Lord,  and  her  Saviour  from  sin.  She 
was  now  one  of  the  older  girls  in  the  school,  as  others 
were  being  taken  out  to  be  married,  as  is  the  wont 
of  Hindus. 

Before  the  end  of  the  second  year,  she  came  one 
day  to  the  missionary  lady  in  charge  of  the  school, 
and  said  that  she  wanted  to  become  a  "  Jesus'  Girl," 
and  from  that  time  the  desire  grew  stronger  and 
stronger  in  her  mind  and  would  not  be  put  down. 
Almost  daily  she  came  to  the  missionary  lady's 


Vishnu  Siromani  167 

house  on  her  way  home,  to  have  another  talk  about 
Jesus  and  His  love,  and  after  a  time  asked  if  she 
might  not  be  baptized  and  become  a  real  and  out- 
spoken Christian. 

The  missionary  lady  (Miss  B.)  knew  what  a  storm 
would  be  raised,  and  perhaps  the  girl  would  be 
murdered,  and  that  it  surely  would  cause  the  utter 
desertion  of  the  school  by  all  the  Komati  pupils, 
their  parents  taking  them  away  because  one  had 
been  "  bewitched  into  becoming  a  Christian."  But 
she  dared  not  discourage  this  soul  seeking  after 
Jesus.  She,  however,  felt  the  need  of  caution  for 
Siromani' s  own  sake,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  other 
girls  who  might  yet  be  reached  if  they  were  not  sup- 
denly  taken  out  of  the  school. 

The  law  of  India  fixes  fourteen  years  as  the  age 
of  discretion  in  the  case  of  a  girl,  when  she  is  at 
liberty  legally  to  choose  for  herself  in  matters  per- 
taining to  her  own  welfare,  though  this  legal  enact- 
ment is  not  known  to  many  of  India's  daughters, 
and  few  of  those  who  do  know  it  ever  dare  to  act 
upon  it,  or  are  allowed  to  by  their  parents,  who  re- 
sent the  giving  of  such  liberty  to  their  daughters, 
and  manage,  in  one  way  or  another,  to  make  the 
provision  of  non-effect. 

Still  Miss  B.,  knowing  the  law,  wishing  to  be  able 
to  protect  the  girl  legally  as  much  as  possible,  and 
being  in  doubt  whether  she  were  yet  fully  fourteen, 


i68       High  Caste  Hindu  Girls'  Schools 

asked  her  without  letting  her  parents  have  an  ink- 
ling of  her  purpose  to  get  from  her  father  her 
"horoscope."  This  is  always  made  out  on  the 
birth  of  a  Hindu  child  of  high  caste  by  the  family 
priest  or  "Purohit,"  who  consults  the  stars  and 
writes  out  the  day  and  hour  of  birth  and  the  exact 
position  of  the  chief  planets  at  that  time  and  what 
they  indicate  as  to  the  future  of  the  babe.  This  is 
considered  in  the  courts  as  definitely  settling  a  per- 
son's age,  if  it  prove  to  be  genuine.  Siromani 
made  her  request  to  her  father  one  day  when  he  was 
exceedingly  good-natured,  to  be  allowed  to  see  her 
horoscope.  As  it  was  an  exceedingly  favourable 
one,  promising  her  a  happy  marriage  with  a  rich 
young  Koiuati  in  due  time,  the  father  unlocked  his 
private  strong  box  and  took  out  the  horoscope,  and 
placed  it  in  his  daughter's  hand,  telling  her  to  be 
exceedingly  careful  of  it  and  give  it  back  to  him  to 
lock  up  again  when  he  should  return  from  his  bazaar 
in  the  afternoon. 

This  was  in  the  morning,  a  little  while  before  she 
was  to  start  for  school.  As  soon  as  her  father  had 
left  the  house  for  his  bazaar  she  hastily  dressed  in 
her  school  clothes  and,  making  some  excuse  for  start- 
ing earlier  than  usual,  she  hastened  to  Miss  B.'s  bun- 
galow on  her  way  to  school  and  showed  her  treasure. 

Miss  B.,  knowing  that  in  some  cases  of  converts 
the  horoscope  had  been  altered  to  conceal  the  age 


Vishnu  Siromani  169 

or  new  ones  forged  on  old  and  yellowed  paper,  at 
once  had  her  Christian  Munshi  take  an  exact  copy 
of  it^  which  copy  he  and  she  attested,  and  placing  a 
secret  private  mark  upon  the  original  that  would  not 
be  noticed  gave  it  back  to  Siromani  on  her  way  home 
from  school,  and  she  returned  it  to  her  father  who 
again  locked  it  in  his  strong  box,  not  suspecting  that 
it  had  been  out  of  the  house. 

As  there  were  still  several  months  lacking  to  her 
being  fourteen  years  of  age,  the  girl  was  advised  to 
keep  her  purpose  absolutely  to  herself  until  she  had 
well  passed  the  birthday,  coming  as  before  for  Chris- 
tian instruction,  that  she  might  be  fully  ready  for 
baptism  when  the  time  should  arrive. 

One  month  after  her  fourteenth  birthday  she  came 
to  Miss  B.,  and  begged  that  she  might  now  take 
Jesus'  name  upon  her.  The  ordained  missionary  in 
charge  of  the  station  had  already  seen  and  freely 
talked  with  her,  and  avowed  himself  as  well  satisfied 
with  her  Christian  purpose  and  character  and  knowl- 
edge, and  promised  to  baptize  her  the  following  Sun- 
day morning  in  church. 

Early  Sunday  morning  Siromani,  clad  in  white 
and  making  some  excuse  for  her  absence,  made  her 
way  to  Miss  B.'s  bungalow,  and  after  Miss  B.'s  farther 
instructing  her,  and  praying  earnestly  with  her  and 
for  her,  they  went  together  to  the  mission  church  for 
her  baptism  at  the  morning  service. 


170       High  Caste  Hindu  Girls'  Schools 

They  sat  together  in  a  seat  near  the  pulpit,  and 
after  the  opening  services  the  missionary,  descend- 
ing from  the  pulpit,  asked  the  pre-baptismal  ques- 
tions and  was  just  about  to  administer  the  ordinance, 
when  the  front  door  of  the  church  was  burst  open, 
and  an  angry  crowd  rushed  in,  headed  by  two  lusty 
bullies  who  had  been  hastily  hired  for  the  occasion 
by  the  parents,  the  latter  having  in  some  way  obtained 
information  of  what  was  going  on. 

One  of  the  bullies  seized  the  trembling  girl  and, 
throwing  her  over  his  shoulders,  rushed  down  the 
aisle,  a  clear  way  being  made  for  him  by  the  crowd, 
who  at  once  closed  in  after  him  to  prevent  any  one 
following  him,  while  the  other  one  of  the  bullies, 
with  a  stout  club  and  others  to  help  him,  kept  the 
missionary  and  the  lady  missionary  prisoners  near 
the  pulpit. 

Poor  Siromani  was  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
stout  captor  down  a  side  street  and  out  of  the  town 
where  a  jutlca  (native  rapid  vehicle)  was  waiting 
and  placed  her  in  it,  in  spite  of  her  struggles,  and 
the  driver  was  ordered  to  be  off  as  fast  as  possible. 
The  jutka  was  driven  rapidly  out  on  a  road  going 
south.  The  frightened  girl  peeking  out  through  a 
hole  in  the  cover,  discovered  that  they  had  come 
into  and  were  going  rapidly  out  upon  the  road  which 
led  forty  miles  north  to  K6tur,  where  her  mother's 
brother  lived.  After  dark,  she  was  landed  at  the 


Vishnu  Siromani  171 

house  of  her  uncle,  who  had  been  warned  by  a  hasty 
messenger  sent  on  before,  and  was  put  into  a  window- 
less  room  and  locked  up.  In  the  morning,  her 
father,  who  had  travelled  through  the  night  so  as 
not  to  be  seen,  came  in  a  towering  rage  and  poured 
his  wrath  upon  the  head  of  the  defenseless  girl.  In 
vain  she  pleaded  that  she  was  now  fully  fourteen 
years  old,  and  that  she  had  a  legal  right  to  choose 
for  herself.  He  sneered,  in  reply,  that  no  one  knew 
or  should  know  where  she  was  and  that  no  ' '  legal 
rights"  should  avail  her  unless  she  renounced  her 
' '  newfangled  notions ' '  and  came  back  to  her  ancestral 
faith  and  her  family,  as  an  obedient  Hindu  girl,  in 
which  case  as  she  had  not  yet  eaten  with  the  Christians 
and  had  been  saved  from  pollution  in  baptism  all 
should  be  forgiven  her,  and  he  would  give  such  a 
dowry  as  to  win  the  best  young  man  in  their  caste  as 
her  husband. 

She  told  him  of  her  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  that 
she  would  never  give  it  up,  no  matter  if  they  killed 
her,  and  long  and  earnestly  did  she  plead  with  him  to 
let  her  go  and  be  a  follower  of  Jesus.  He,  however, 
became  harder  and  harder,  and  at  the  end  of  an  hour 
had  the  village  blacksmith  called  and  an  iron  ring 
rivetted  around  her  ankle  and  a  chain  from  it 
securely  fastened  to  a  block  of  wood.  She  was  then 
told  that  she  should  not  be  released  until  she  re- 
nounced her  mission  friends  and  their  strange 


172       High  Caste  Hindu  Girls'  Schools 

doctrines,  and  that  now  he,  the  father,  was  going  back 
home  during  the  night,  so  as  not  to  be  seen  j  that  no 
one  should  know  where  she  was,  and  that  release  to 
her  without  her  recanting  was  impossible. 

The  following  day  she  was  allowed  to  come  out 
into  the  inner  court  of  the  house,  but  could  only 
move  around  by  dragging  the  block  of  wood  after 
her.  The  outer  door  of  the  house  was  always  kept 
locked,  and  she  was  told  that  she  would  die  there, 
with  the  fetter  still  on  her,  unless  she  recanted. 

Six  months  passed,  with  her  still  dragging  the 
block  of  wood  around  by  her  foot  wherever  she  went, 
but  while  she  was  submissive  and  kind  in  all  her 
actions  to  her  uncle  and  aunt  she  continued  firm  in 
her  inner  purpose  as  a  Christian. 

Meantime,  the  missionaries  had  in  vain  made 
every  effort  to  ascertain  what  had  become  of  her. 
They  had  shown  an  attested  copy  of  her  horoscope 
to  the  authorities,  proving  that  she  was  of  legal  age 
to  choose  for  herself,  that  she  had  been  kidnapped, 
and  the  superintendent  of  police,  a  Christian  gentle- 
man, had  promised  to  make  every  effort  to  find  her 
and  secure  her  release.  He  placed  his  most  astute 
officer  in  charge,  ordering  him  to  find  and  follow 
every  possible  clue  and  to  keep  reporting  progress. 
The  father  of  the  girl,  the  rich  K6mati,  learned  of 
the  efforts  and  obtaining  an  interview  with  the 
officer,  a  Hindu,  placed  a  sufficient  sum  of  money  in 


Vishnu  Siromani  173 

his  hands  with  a  promise  of  twice  as  much  more  if 
the  girl  were  never  found,  to  induce  him  to  play 
false  to  his  superiors. 

The  officer  reported  to  the  superintendent  that  the 
girl  had  been  put  in  a  close  jutka  which  had  been 
driven  south  at  a  great  pace,  and  had  search  made 
in  every  place  on  that  southern  road  for  a  hundred 
or  more  miles,  but  declared  to  the  superintendent 
that,  much  to  his  chagrin,  no  trace  of  her  could  be 
found.  Then  he  feigned  to  have  just  discovered  that 
the  jutka  had  turned  off  on  to  the  west  road,  and 
diligent  and  spectacular  search  was  made,  but  all  in 
vain.  Six  months  of  search  were  ostensibly  kept  up. 

These  six  months  had  been  passed  by  poor  Siromaui 
dragging  that  block  of  wood  around  with  her  fettered 
ankle.  She  had  by  obedience  and  gentleness  so  won 
upon  the  love  of  her  uncle  and  aunt  that  they  deeply 
pitied  her,  and,  as  her  ankle  was  very  much  galled 
by  the  fetter  and  very  sore,  and  she  had  shown  such 
a  submissive  and  docile  spirit,  and  seemed  to  accept 
the  situation  with  such  quietness,  they  determined  to 
release  her  from  the  fetter  while  keeping  the  outer 
door  locked,  telling  her  that  if  she  attempted  to  get 
away  she  would  be  killed,  and  that  if  she  did  get 
back  to  Pudupetta  her  enraged  father  would  kill  her 
there.  The  village  blacksmith  was  again  called  and 
the  fetter  was  filed  off. 

Siromani  determined  to  seem  obedient  and  ame- 


174       High  Caste  Hindu  Girls'  Schools 

nable  to  their  desires,  and  went  about  the  house 
quietly  trying  to  do  everything  in  her  power  to  help 
and  please  them,  and  bide  her  time. 

Soon  they  thought  that  she  had  given  up  "her 
nonsense,"  and  that  if  not  crowded  too  fast  she 
would  before  long  settle  down  into  her  old  ways. 
She  skillfully  forefended  any  request  to  present  offer- 
ings to  the  household  gods,  but  performed  all  other 
household  duties  with  alacrity  and  zeal,  and  com- 
pletely won  their  hearts. 

There  was  a  very  prominent  young  Komati  in  that 
village  and  they  began  to  talk  with  her  about  marry- 
ing him.  She  made  no  objections,  and,  they  thought, 
seemed  to  be  pleased  with  the  idea.  They  sounded 
the  young  man's  parents  and  found  them  favourable, 
and  began  to  talk  of  arrangements  for  the  marriage. 
She  offered  no  objections,  but  suggested  that  it  would 
be  necessary  to  wait  until  her  own  parents  should 
come  and  see  the  young  man  and  give  their  consent. 
To  this  they  readily  agreed,  and  wrote  to  her  parents 
that  their  daughter  had  now  come  to  reason,  and  was 
willing  to  marry  a  very  nice  young  K6mati  in  Kotur 
if  they  would  come  and  see  him  and  give  their  consent. 

They  were  overjoyed  at  the  news  and  promised  to 
come  after  a  few  weeks.  The  guardians,  thinking 
that  Siromani  was  eager  for  the  marriage,  which 
would  soon  be  accomplished,  gave  her  more  and 
more  liberty. 


Vishnu  Siromani  175 

One  morning,  however,  they  arose  and  found  that 
she  was  not  in  her  room,  nor  anywhere  about,  and 
that  in  some  way  the  outer  door  had  been  opened. 

Siromani  had  indeed  made  her  escape,  and  as  fast 
as  her  still  lame  ankle  would  allow,  she  made  her 
way  through  the  still  night,  alone,  along  the  road 
over  which  she  had  been  brought  as  a  prisoner  only 
seven  months  before.  When  the  morning  dawned 
she  made  her  way  into  a  thick  clump  of  trees  at  a 
short  distance  from  the  road,  but  on  the  opposite 
side  of  a  tall  field  of  grain  which  cut  off  the  view  of 
the  clump  of  trees  from  those  passing  in  the  road. 
In  the  clump  of  trees  was  a  dense  thicket  of  low 
bushes.  Once  in  going  to  visit  her  uncle  a  few  years 
before  she  and  her  mother  had  stopped  one  midday 
to  rest  in  that  very  grove  of  trees.  So  she  knew  the 
place. 

Now,  to  conceal  herself  more  effectually,  she 
crawled  under  the  branches  of  this  thicket  of 
bushes  and  lay  down  to  get  some  sleep,  after  her 
long  night's  weary  tramp.  It  was  near  noon  when 
she  awoke,  and  she  was  delighted  to  find  that  the 
berry  bushes  under  which  she  lay  concealed  were 
laden  with  berries  just  ripe.  These,  together  with 
a  couple  of  bits  of  native  bread  which  she  had 
managed  to  secrete  in  anticipation  of  her  flight, 
were  enough  to  satisfy  her  hunger  and  give  her 
strength  for  her  farther  journey,  and  the  little  trick- 


176       High  Caste  Hindu  Girls'  Schools 

ling  stream  which  ran  through  the  clump  of  trees 
from  the  foot  of  the  adjacent  hill,  was  there  to 
quench  her  thirst.  Taking  out  from  her  bosom 
the  small  New  Testament  which  she  had  in  some 
way  managed  to  conceal  through  all  her  imprison- 
ment, she  spent  the  afternoon,  in  her  hiding  under 
the  bushes,  in  reading  her  favourite  Gospels,  and  in 
prayer  to  the  Jesus,  whom  she  so  loved,  to  aid  her 
in  completing  her  escape  and  getting  into  circum- 
stances where  she  could  openly  avow  her  faith  in 
Him  and  serve  Him. 

"Waiting  in  her  concealment  until  nearly  ten 
o'clock  that  night,  she  came  out  into  the  road  and 
pursued  her  way.  By  early  cock-crowing  she 
reached  the  bungalow  of  her  beloved  teacher. 
Coming  up  quietly  into  the  veranda  off  from  which 
Miss  B.'s  bedroom  opened,  and  gently  tapping  the 
Venetian  blinds  of  the  room  she  called  in  a  low  voice 
"amma,  amma"  (missy,  missy).  Soon  she  was 
overjoyed  to  hear  Miss  B.'s  well-known  voice  re- 
spond, "Who  is  there!  Who  is  calling!  What  is 
wanted  !  " 

"  It  is  I,  your  Siromani,"  she  responded.  "  Jesus 
has  brought  me  back  to  you.  Isn't  He  good!" 
With  that  the  low  French  window  was  thrown 
open,  the  dear  girl  drawn  in,  and  her  story  was 
soon  told  to  her  sympathizing  friend. 

Miss  B.  was  surprised  to  find  that  though  the  girl 


Vishnu  Siromani  177 

had  spent  a  day  and  two  nights  on  the  way  no  en- 
quiries or  angry  visit  from  the  girl's  parents  had 
been  made.  Well  knowing,  however,  that  a  tre- 
mendous uproar,  with  probable  mob  violence,  would 
ensue  on  its  being  discovered  that  Siromaui  had  es- 
caped and  come  back  to  her,  instead  of  longer  talk- 
ing with  the  tired  girl  she  hastily  completed  prepa- 
rations for  leaving  Pudupetta  for  a  distant  place. 

The  uncle  and  aunt  on  arising  and  finding  that 
Siromani  was  missing,  not  imagining  that  with  her 
lame  ankle  she  could  possibly  have  made  her  way 
the  long  distance  to  Pudupetta,  had  spent  the  day 
in  making  diligent  search  in  all  the  villages  around 
Kotur,  thinking  that  she  must  be  somewhere  con- 
cealed near  by.  Not  until  late  that  night,  after 
twelve  hours  of  fruitless  search,  did  they  decide  to 
send  word  to  her  father  and  mother  of  her  disappear- 
ance, for  they  dreaded  the  reproaches  that  would 
be  heaped  upon  them  for  having  had  the  iron  ring 
removed  from  her  ankle. 

Miss  B.  had  been  preparing  to  make  a  long  visit 
to  far-distant  friends,  and  was  to  have  started  on 
her  journey  two  days  later,  but  now  she  determined 
to  start  by  the  earliest  train  that  same  day  and  take 
Siromani  with  her,  away  from  the  peril  that  awaited 
them. 

Thus  before  her  parents  had  any  inkling  of  her 
disappearance  from  Kotur,  Siromani,  clothed  as  an 


178       High  Caste  Hindu  Girls'  Schools 

ayah  (a  family  servant),  was  safe  on  the  train  and 
speeding  away  with  her  protector  to  a  far  distant 
place.  From  a  railway  junction  she  sent  back  a 
letter  to  her  parents  bidding  them  good-bye,  and 
telling  them  that  since  they  would  not  let  her  be 
a  Christian  at  Pudupetta  she  was  on  her  way  to  a 
far  distant  place  with  her  beloved  missionary  lady, 
where  she  would  be  free  to  serve  and  acknowledge 
openly  that  dear  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  a 
year  before  she  had  consecrated  her  life,  and  that 
before  they  could  hear  of  her  again  she  would  have 
been  baptized  and  be  living  openly  with  Christians, 
so  that  she  could  never  be  restored  to  caste. 

Her  father,  when  the  news  from  Kotur  reached 
him,  found  that  she  had  already  gone  beyond  his 
reach.  When  the  letter  came,  with  no  clue  as  to 
where  they  had  gone,  the  father  gave  up  all  efforts 
to  pursue  and  recover  her.  He  had  her  funeral  rites 
performed  as  though  she  were  dead,  while  she  re- 
joiced at  having  found  life  in  Jesus  Christ.  At  the 
end  of  her  journey,  she  was  baptized  as  "  Yesu  Sir6- 
mani"  (Jesus'  crown-jewel),  for  had  not  Jesus 
rescued  her  even  as  a  precious  jewel  from  the  bond- 
age of  Vishnu,  whose  name  she  now  abjured  I  Hence- 
forth she  would  live  for  Jesus. 


NATIVE    LEADERS    AND    FORCES    APPEARING: 
THE  UNBAPTIZED  VOLUNTEER  MISSIONARY 

IN  the  cool  season  of  1861-2,  a  catechist  came  to 
me  one  day  saying  that  a  cousin  of  his,  not  a 
Christian,  was  passing  through  the  place  on  a 
business  trip  for  the  purchase  of  plowing  oxen,  and 
had  stopped  to  see  him.  He  asked  if  he  might  bring 
him  to  see  me.  He  soon  came  with  him,  and  we  had 
a  long  and  earnest  talk. 

The  cousin's  name  was  Kornapati  Souri.  He  was 
a  young  ryot,  or  farmer,  living  in  a  village  near 
Madras  City.  He  had  attended  a  school  among  the 
Boinan  Catholics  near  his  native  village,  obtaining  a 
good  primary  education,  and  was  the  leading  man 
among  the  cultivators  of  his  village,  and  the  one 
whom  they  always  selected,  on  account  of  his  educa- 
tion and  his  intelligence  and  probity,  to  conduct  any 
case  of  theirs  before  government  officials  or  in  suits 
in  the  courts.  They  had  now  united  in  sending  him 
up  to  the  Zemindari,  or  Native  Kingdom,  of  Pun- 
ganur,  just  beyond  Palmaner,  to  purchase  oxen  for 
them  all  for  the  coming  season,  they  agreeing  to  do 
all  his  farm  work  for  him  in  his  absence. 

I  was  much  drawn  to  the  young  man.  He 
179 


180    Native  Leaders  and  Forces  Appearing 

seemed  so  honest,  so  genuine  and  sincere.  He  had 
learned  considerable  elementary  Christian  truth  from 
the  Boinaii  Catholics,  and,  as  I  talked  with  him,  he 
acknowledged  his  personal  need  of  a  Divine  Re- 
deemer who  could  and  would  actually  take  away 
his  sins. 

I  pressed  the  claims  of  Jesus  Christ  as  such  a  Re- 
deemer upon  his  immediate  attention.  He  seemed 
much  affected,  and  readily  promised  to  call  and  have 
another  conversation  on  his  return  from  his  expedi- 
tion. He  left,  taking  with  him  the  Gospel  of  John 
and  some  practical  Christian  tracts  to  read  while  he 
was  gone. 

Ten  days  later,  returning  with  six  or  eight  yoke 
of  plow  bullocks,  he  spent  a  night  at  Palmaner,  and 
came  to  see  me,  himself  reopening  our  conversation 
about  the  Divine  Redeemer.  We  talked  long  and 
earnestly  into  the  night,  and  when,  after  a  prayer 
with  and  for  him,  he  took  his  leave,  intending  to 
drive  on  his  purchased  bullocks  in  the  early  morning, 
he  gave  me  a  promise  that  he  would  try  and  find 
that  Redeemer  as  his  own.  I  felt  sure  that  he  meant 
what  he  said,  for  he  seemed,  like  Nathaniel,  to  be 
"one  in  whom  there  was  no  guile." 

A  couple  of  months  later,  he  came  up  again  to  pur- 
chase more  bullocks  and,  as  before,  at  once  wished 
to  see  me.  As  he  came  into  my  study  and  took  his 
seat  on  the  nig,  his  countenance  fairly  beamed,  as  he 


The  Unbapttzed  Volunteer  Missionary    181 

said,  "I  have  found  Him.  I  have  found  Jesus  Christ 
as  my  own  Eedeemer.  He  has  taken  away  all  my 
sins,  and  I  am  His  ! "  It  was  a  joy  now  to  talk  with 
him  of  his  new-found  Saviour,  and  an  earnest  con- 
versation we  had  about  the  Eedeemer  who  was  so 
precious  to  us  both.  "And  now,"  I  said  to  him, 
"what  are  you  going  to  do  for  that  dear  Saviour 
who  has  done  so  much  for  you?  " 

"I,"  said  he,  "  J,  what  can  I  do  for  Him !  " 

"You  can  make  Him  known  to  others,  and  get 
them  also  to  accept  Him,"  said  I. 

"How  can  I  do  that?"  said  he.  "I  am  not  a 
catechist,  nor  a  preacher.  I  am  only  an  uneducated 
young  farmer ;  I  could  not  preach.  I  do  not  see 
what  I  can  do." 

"Well,"  said  I,  "you  are  going  to  be  out  a  fort- 
night in  the  Zemindari  of  Punganur,  going  from 
village  to  village  purchasing  cattle,  are  you  not? 
You  cannot  talk  cattle  all  day  and  all  night ;  you 
will  have  to  stop  somewhere  to  get  your  dinner,  and 
when  night  conies  you  will  have  to  stop  in  some 
one's  house  for  the  night,  and  while  you  are  thus 
stopping  in  the  houses  of  those  who  have  never 
heard  of  your  Redeemer,  can't  you  tell  them  about 
Him,  and  about  the  joy  and  peace  that  you  have 
found  in  committing  yourself  entirely  into  His 
hands?  I  will  give  you  some  of  the  Gospels  and 
some  tracts  that  help  to  explain  them,  and  you  can 


182    Native  Leaders  and  Forces  Appearing 

tell  them  all  about  that  blessed  Eedeemer,  can  you 
not!  Is  it  right  for  you?  Is  it  fair  to  Him,  for  you 
to  do  less  than  that? " 

"  No,  sir,  it  is  not  I'll  do  it,  and  do  all  I  can  in 
each  house  where  I  have  a  meal  or  spend  the  night." 

I  gave  him  the  promised  books,  and  told  him  that 
I  would  be  praying  for  him  that  God  would  give  him 
wisdom  and  courage  and  faith  to  do  all  he  could  for 
his  new-found  Jesus,  and  he  took  his  leave  and  went 
on  his  journey. 

When  he  came  back  with  his  purchases  of  oxen 
he  came  at  once  to  my  study  and  said  with  evident 
gladness,  "  I  have  done  it.  I  have  read  those  books 
in  many  houses  and  talked  evenings  after  my  day's 
examining  and  bargaining  for  the  bullocks  that  were 
offered  me,  and  often  the  people  from  other  houses 
would  come  into  the  house  where  I  was  spending  the 
night  and  sit  and  listen  until  it  was  very  late  as  I 
read  from  the  books  that  brought  me  to  Jesus.  In 
the  morning  again,  before  I  would  start  on  to  another 
village,  some  of  them  would  come  and  ask  me  ques- 
tions about  what  I  had  read  the  night  before.  I  wish 
I  knew  more  about  the  Bible  and  better  knew  how  to 
answer  the  questions  they  ask,  for  I  do  want  them  to 
know  and  love  my  Saviour.  May  I  take  some  of 
these  books  with  me  to  my  village,  so  that  I  can 
study  them  more,  and  have  them  to  show  and  read 
to  people  wherever  I  go  ?  " 


The  Unbaptized  Volunteer  Missionary    183 

"  By  all  means,  fill  your  wallet  with  them,  and  not 
only  read  them  to  people,  but  give  a  copy  to  any  one 
who  wants  one  and  will  promise  to  read  it." 

He  filled  his  wallet,  which  he  carried  at  his  side 
slung  over  his  shoulder,  and  went  away,  driving  his 
oxen  before  him  on  the  road  to  his  village,  a  hundred 
miles  east. 

I  did  not  hear  from  him  nor  of  him  for  several 
months,  but  when  later  I  was  wishing  to  open  a  little 
primary  school  at  Palmaner,  I  called  his  cousin,  the 
catechist,  and  asked  him  to  write  and  ask  him 
if  he  would  leave  his  farming  and  come  to  me  as 
teacher  of  the  primary  school,  and  spend  his  spare 
time  in  studying  the  Bible  and  pursuing  further  his 
education,  in  which  I  would  be  glad  to  help  him. 

He  came  up  at  once  to  see  me.  He  had  a  wife  and 
one  little  son.  His  wife  fully  sympathized  with  him 
in  his  new-found  joy  and  faith.  I  could  offer  him  as 
teacher  of  the  little  school  only  eight  rupees  per 
month  at  first.  But  he  said  that  with  economy  they 
could  live  upon  that,  and  he  wanted  very  much  to 
obtain  more  education  and  have  a  chance  to  study 
the  whole  Bible.  So  he  brought  his  wife  and  child 
and  became  our  school-teacher. 

I  asked  him  where  he  had  been  during  the  inter- 
vening months  since  I  had  seen  him.  He  said  that 
the  people  in  his  village  had  wanted  some  heavier, 
stronger  oxen  than  those  he  had  found  for  sale  in  our 


184    Native  Leaders  and  Forces  Appearing 

direction,  so  the  village  people  had  put  together 
several  hundred  rupees  and  asked  him  to  go  a  long 
way  north,  where  such  cattle  were  to  be  had,  and 
buy  oxen  for  them,  which  they  could  use  for  cart 
oxen  as  well  as  for  plowing.  He  had  tied  the  rupees 
in  two  long  belt  bags  around  his  waist  under  his 
clothing,  and  walked  all  the  long  way  up  to  Bezwada 
County,  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  north  from 
Madras,  where  he  had  heard  that  the  kind  of  oxen 
they  wanted  were  to  be  had  at  a  reasonable  price, 
and  there  he  had  been  able  in  the  course  of  two 
weeks  or  so  to  purchase  all  the  oxen  he  desired. 

He  told  me  that  he  had  there  pursued  the  same 
course  as  in  his  second  expedition  near  Palmaner, 
reading  the  Gospels  and  tracts  each  evening  to  the 
people  in  whatever  village  he  passed  the  night,  and 
that  the  people  had  listened  more  closely  and  asked 
more  interested  questions  than  the  people  near  Pal- 
maner. He  seemed  very  happy  over  the  seed  he  had 
been  enabled  to  sow  on  that  trip,  and  said  he  often 
prayed  that  it  might  spring  up  and  bear  fruit. 

He  had  not  yet  been  baptized,  but  now  asked  that 
he  might  be,  before  he  entered  upon  his  duties  as 
teacher.  After  his  family  came,  in  May,  1862,  he 
therefore  was  baptized,  himself  asking  that  the  name 
of  the  evangelist  John,  by  whose  Gospel  he  had  been 
brought  to  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  his  Saviour,  might 
be  given  him.  He  received  the  name  John  Souri, 


The  Unbaptized  Volunteer  Missionary    185 

aiid  he  and  his  wife  were  received  into  the  little 
newly-formed  church  at  Palmaner.  He  took  hold  of 
his  duties  as  teacher  of  the  little  primary  school  with 
zeal  and  devotion,  and  out  of  school  hours  he  was 
diligent  in  his  study  of  the  whole  Word  of  God,  and 
of  such  secular  subjects  as  would  better  fit  him  for  a 
mission  helper.  His  conduct  was  that  of  a  mature 
and  zealous  Christian. 

The  next  year,  in  June,  I  was  making  arrange- 
ments for  a  long  preaching  and  Bible-distributing 
tour  up  through  the  dominions  of  the  Nizam  of 
Hyderabad,  through  a  region  up  to  that  time  never 
visited  by  a  missionary,  and  of  whose  inhabitants 
little  was  known. 

It  would  be  so  long  and  arduous  and  perhaps 
so  dangerous  a  trip  that  I  did  not  feel  justified  in 
designating  any  particular  native  assistants  to  ac- 
company me,  but  called  for  four  volunteers.  John 
at  once  begged  to  be  one  of  the  four.  He  had  so 
won  my  esteem  that  I  willingly  accepted  him,  and 
nobly  did  he  merit  the  confidence  I  had  put  in  him. 
The  trip  was  not  without  its  hardships,  and  not  with- 
out its  dangers,  but  his  courage  never  failed,  and  he 
was  never  weary  of  surmounting  hardships. 

If  the  carts  with  our  boxes  of  Scriptures  and 
books  and  equipage  became  stuck  in  the  mire,  it  was 
he,  with  his  farmer's  experience  and  his  knowledge 
of  the  management  of  oxen,  who  would  strip  off  his 


i86    Native  Leaders  and  Forces  Appearing 

preacher's  coat  and  go  in  and  get  them  out.  When 
in  the  north  of  Hyderabad,  we  came  to  a  place  in  the 
dense  teak  forests  where  we  were  told  that  the  previ- 
ous week  one  of  the  drivers  of  carts  that  were  en- 
deavouring to  go  through  the  jungle  by  that  narrow 
cart-track  had  been  taken  off  by  a  tiger,  he  it  was 
who  jumped  on  to  the  pole  of  the  first  cart,  and, 
taking  the  whip  and  the  driver's  ropes,  fearlessly 
drove  it,  with  the  others  following  through  the  forest 
and  out  into  the  next  clearing.  All  the  way  through, 
after  a  tour  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  days,  he  was 
my  mainstay  in  all  difficulties;  nor  did  he  quail 
when  he  saw  the  angry  mob  in  one  town  gather  up 
stones  with  which  to  stone  us. 

Some  years  passed  by.  In  August,  1873,  the 
Telugu  Bible  Revision  Committee  met  at  Madana- 
palle.  On  our  " Missionary  Sunday"!  had  asked 
one  of  the  committee,  the  Eev.  Thomas  Y.  Dar- 
ling, a  missionary  at  Bezwada,  to  give  an  account 
of  a  wonderful  ingathering  which  had  taken  place  a 
few  years  before  in  the  region  some  little  distance 
west  of  Bezwada. 

Mr.  Darling  had  at  Eajamandry  told  us  how,  some 
years  previously,  some  men  had  appeared  at  his 
house  at  Bezwada  one  day,  asking  if  he  was  the  man 
who  knew  about  and  told  about  the  Divine  Re- 
deemer, Tesu  Kristu,  and  begging  him,  if  so,  to 
come  with  them  to  their  village,  some  twenty  or 


The  Unbaptized  Volunteer  Missionary    187 

thirty  miles  west,  for  they  all  wanted  to  learn  more 
about  Yesu  Kristu  and  join  His  religion.  They 
brought  with  them  a  copy  of  the  Gospel  of  John  to 
show  what  they  wanted.  Although  it  was  the  hot 
season,  and  not  suitable  for  touring,  they  were  so 
earnest  that  he  could  not  refuse  them,  but  took  his 
tent  and  went  out  with  them  at  once,  great  as  the 
heat  was. 

He  told  us  that  to  his  utter  surprise  he  found  a 
score  or  two  of  heads  of  families  who  knew  a  great 
deal  about  Christianity.  He  found,  on  enquiry,  that 
some  years  before,  in  April,  1862,  as  near  as  he 
could  make  out,  a  young  man  from  far  to  the  south 
had  come  there  to  purchase  oxen,  and  had  brought 
a  lot  of  these  books  with  him,  which  he  had  read 
aud  explained  to  them  in  the  evenings  while  spend- 
ing his  days  in  buying  oxen  in  all  the  villages  around 
them,  and  that  they  had  been  ever  since  trying  to 
find  some  one  who  could  tell  them  more  about  this 
u  new  way  of  getting  rid  of  sin,"  through  the  help 
of  the  Divine  Redeemer,  Yesu  Kristu,  whom  that 
young  man  had  taught  them  to  love  and  to  pray  to. 

Mr.  Darling  told  us  that  he  remained  with  them 
for  many  days  and  instructed  them,  and  that  before 
he  left  them  he  baptized  between  twenty  and  thirty 
heads  of  families,  and  that  there  were  many  more 
nearly  ready  for  baptism.  They  could  not  tell  him 
who  that  cattle-buyer  was,  or  how  to  find  him,  for 


i88    Native  Leaders  and  Forces  Appearing 

they  had  themselves  in  vain  tried  to  find  him  to  ask 
him  to  come  back  and  tell  them  more  about  this 
wonderful  Saviour.  But  having  casually  learned 
that  he,  Mr.  Darling,  knew  and  told  people  about 
the  same  Yesu  Eristu  they  had  journeyed  to  him  to 
ask  him  to  come  and  instruct  them. 

Mr.  Darling  said  that  the  work  in  that  region  had 
steadily  gone  on,  until  now  it  was  one  of  the  best- 
developed  mission  stations  and  congregations  in 
their  mission,  and  that  all  these  years  he  had  been 
trying  in  vain  to  find  some  clue  to  the  man  who  had 
in  such  a  peculiar  way  initiated  the  movement 
which  was  still  spreading.  He  was  still  hoping 
that  some  time,  and  in  some  way,  he  might  find 
him,  for  he  wanted  to  let  him  know  about  the  results 
of  his  volunteer  work  for  Christ  in  that  distant  re- 
gion. 

As  soon  as  the  service  closed,  the  remainder  of  us 
walked  up  to  our  bungalow,  which  was  not  far  off, 
while  Mr.  Darling  waited  to  have  a  little  talk  with 
some  of  our  people,  who  had  seemed  so  intensely 
interested  in  what  he  had  told. 

After  some  little  time  he  came  up,  with  joyous 
excitement,  saying,  "Bejoice  with  me,  I  have  found 
him !  I  have  found  my  man  that  I  have  been  so 
long  hunting  for.  It  is  your  assistant,  John 
Souri." 

"  How  do  you  know  ?  "  said  L 


The  Unbaptized  Volunteer  Missionary    189 

"I  stopped,"  said  he,  "to  answer  some  questions 
which  the  others  asked  about  the  story  I  had  told, 
and  soon  your  catechist,  John  Souri,  asked  in  a 
very  modest  way,  '  When  was  it  that  you  said  that 
young  man  was  in  those  villages  buying  oxen  ? '  I 
told  him  that  it  was,  as  near  as  I  could  make  out, 
about  April,  1862.  l  And  what  were  the  names  of 
the  villages?'  I  told  him,  and  added,  'Why?  do 
you  know  anything  about  it?'  'I  think  I  do,  for 
I  spent  a  fortnight  in  villages  of  those  names  in  that 
Taluk  in  March  or  April,  1862,  and  each  evening  I 
gathered  all  the  people  I  could  and  told  them  what 
a  Saviour  I  had  found,  and  also  read  to  them  from 
the  Gospels.  When  I  came  away  I  gave  them  a 
number  of  Gospels  and  tracts  to  read  after  I  had 
gone,  so  that  they  would  not  forget,  but  I  never 
knew  that  any  of  those  people  had  become  Chris- 
tians. '  " 

A  few  years  later,  he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry 
as  the  Eev.  John  Souri,  and  became  pastor  of  the 
Madanapalle  church,  having  charge  of  the  village 
congregations  scattered  through  that  Taluk,  several 
of  which  he  had  been  the  chief  means  of  leading  to 
Christianity.  He  fulfilled  a  very  fruitful  and  blessed 
ministry  until  December,  1902,  when  he  was  pro- 
moted to  higher  service  in  the  immediate  presence 
of  the  King. 

Many  scores,  and  it  may  be  hundreds,  of  redeemed 


190    Native  Leaders  and  Forces  Appearing 

souls  will  meet  or  have  met  him  in  glory,  telling  him 
that  he  was,  under  God,  the  means  of  their  being 
there.  But  no  period  of  his  ministry  on  earth  was 
more  fruitful,  or  did  more  for  the  salvation  of  the 
Telugus,  than  the  fortnight  he  passed  buying  oxen 
and  reading  and  teaching  the  Gospels  in  that  north- 
ern Taluk,  in  1862,  when  he  was,  as  yet,  "an  un- 
baptized  volunteer  missionary  worker." 


XI 

OBSTACLES  AND  HINDRANCES:  A  HINDU 
FATHER'S  DIFFICULTY 

AMONG  the  obstacles  and  hindrances  which 
meet  the  missionary  at  every  turn  in  India 
there  is  none  probably  more  potent  than 
caste  and  the  Hindu  family  system,  as  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  narrative. 

When  we  first  went  to  Madanapalle  to  establish  a 
mission  station  many  of  the  better  class  of  Hindus 
were  very  reluctant  to  allow  a  missionary  to  locate 
there,  and  took  every  opportunity  to  put  obstacles 
in  our  way,  even  to  the  extent  of  preventing  our  ob- 
taining things  that  we  needed  for  ourselves  or  for 
the  establishment  of  our  work. 

There  was,  however,  one  family  of  high  caste, 
ryots,  or  farmers,  who  were  more  friendly,  and 
one  of  them  in  particular,  of  whom  I  will  speak  as 
"  Bogappa,"  warmly  befriended  us  from  the  first, 
and  always  helped  us  when  he  could. 

Not  long  after  we  had  got  into  our  little  temporary 
home  an  accident  occurred  to  one  of  his  cousins  at 
the  annual  drawing  of  the  chief  idol  car  of  the  place 
which  threatened  to  be  fatal.  Bogappa,  with  others, 

came  and  begged  me  to  come  and  see  if  I  could  save 

191 


192  Obstacles  and  Hindrances 

his  cousin's  life.  I  went,  the  middle  of  the  night 
though  it  was,  and  by  God's  help  I  was  able  to  save 
the  wounded  man's  life  and  bind  up  his  crushed  hand. 
They  were  all  very  grateful,  and  so  far  as  I  could 
learn  none  of  that  family,  brothers  or  cousins,  ever 
again  engaged  in  the  worship  of  the  idol  at  the  draw- 
ing of  whose  car  that  one  came  so  near  losing  his 
life.  Some  of  them  came  very  often  to  our  Chris- 
tian services  on  Sundays,  so  soon  as  we  had  built 
ourselves  a  little  church,  and  none  came  so  often  as 
Bogappa.  My  heart  went  out  towards  him.  He  was 
so  courteous,  and  so  true.  He  was  a  born  gentle- 
man. He  was  always  anxious  to  confer  more  bene- 
fits than  he  received — so  different  from  the  typical 
"  native,"  who  is  supposed  always  to  seek  to  obtain 
benefits,  but  to  render  as  few  as  possible  in  return. 
He  listened  so  earnestly  to  all  the  services  in  the 
church,  when  present,  and  especially  to  the  sermons, 
when  they  set  forth  the  person  and  work  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  one  Saviour  of  a  lost  world.  I  used 
to  seek  occasion  now  and  again  to  press  upon  him 
personally  the  claims  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  need 
of  such  a  Saviour.  He  always  listened  most  inter- 
estedly, and  finally  assured  me  that  he  believed  that 
Jesus  Christ  was  the  only  one  who  could  possibly 
save  even  the  Hindus  from  their  sins  and  the  penalty 
due  for  them,  and  yet  he  did  not  come  out  openly 
and  embrace  Him  as  his  Saviour.  He  seemed  so 


A  Hindu  Father's  Difficulty  193 

near  the  kingdom  and  yet  did  not  enter  in.  His 
conduct  was  that  of  a  Christian  :  he  was  upright, 
honest,  truthful,  and  true. 

After  much  prayer  for  him  and  for  guidance  I 
sought  opportunity  on  one  occasion  for  an  earnest, 
quiet  talk  with  him.  He  came  to  my  study  osten- 
sibly upon  another  matter.  I  once  more  pressed  upon 
him  the  claims  of  Jesus  Christ,  whom  he  had  openly 
said  he  believed  to  be  the  only  Saviour,  to  his  per- 
sonal loyalty  and  personal  service,  and  urged  him  to 
come  out  boldly  and  be  baptized.  He  sat  on  the  rug 
in  my  study  that  being  more  comfortable  to  him  than 
a  chair,  and  looked  up  to  me  with  longing  and 
tearful  eyes,  saying :  "  Oh,  I  do  believe  in  Him.  He 
is  my  only  hope.  I  pray  to  Him  every  day.  I 
never  fail.  But,  sir,  if  I  were  to  come  out  openly 
as  a  Christian  and  be  baptized  it  would  wreck  my 
family.  If  they,  too,  believed  in  Jesus  Christ  and 
would  come  with  me,  how  joyfully  would  I  come, 
no  matter  if  we  became  outcasts  and  were  perse- 
cuted, as  of  course  we  would  be,  and  lose  all  our 
present  friends  and  associates ;  but  that  we  could 
endure  for  the  sake  of  having  your  Jesus  Christ  as 
our  Saviour  and  friend.  But,  sir,  my  wife  and  my 
sons  and  daughters  do  not  yet  sympathize  with  me 
in  my  acceptance  of  Jesus  as  my  Saviour  ;  and  see 
what  it  would  mean  to  them  if  I  were  to  come  out 
and  be  baptized. 


194  Obstacles  and  Hindrances 

UI  would  at  once  be  excommunicated  from  my 
caste  and  I  could  never  again  enter  that  caste  street 
nor  into  my  own  house.  My  wife,  my  sons,  my 
daughters,  would  spit  upon  me  and  spurn  me.  That 
I  could  endure,  and  would  gladly  endure,  for  the 
sake  of  my  Jesus,  but  just  think  what  it  would  mean 
to  my  family  !  Though  they  cast  me  off  they  would 
be  shunned  by  all  our  caste  people.  Neither  of  my 
sons  could  obtain  any  respectable  Hindu  girl  as  a 
wife,  and  they,  not  becoming  Christians,  would  not 
and  could  not  marry  Christian  girls.  No  Hindu 
father  would  allow  his  sons  to  marry  my  daughters 
— the  daughters  of  an  outcast!  My  wife,  though 
not  a  widow,  would  be  treated  as  a  widow,  and  you 
know  something  of  what  that  would  mean  to  a  Hindu 
wife,  but  you  do  not  know  it  all. 

"No,  I  cannot  allow  myself  to  bring  such  ruin  on 
my  family,  glad  as  I  would  be  to  endure  any  perse- 
cution myself  for  the  sake  of  my  Jesus.  I  must 
wait.  I  tell  them  often  that  Jesus  Christ  is  my 
Saviour  and  urge  them  to  accept  Him  as  theirs 
and  come  with  me  and  be  baptized  in  His  name, 
but  they  do  not  listen  to  me.  It  will  come  in  time. 
O  sir,  please  keep  on  praying  for  me  and  for  them, 
and  God  will  also  bring  them  in,  and  then  we  will 
all  come  out  for  Him  ;  but  I  cannot  come  out  alone 
now  and  bring  such  dire  ruin  upon  those  I  love  and 
am  bound  to  stand  by."  The  tears  ran  down  his 


A  Hindu  Father's  Difficulty  195 

cheeks  as  he  said  this,  and  I  was  deeply  moved. 
I  prayed  with  him  and  for  him  and  left  it  with 
God. 

Before  leaving  for  America,  some  years  later,  I 
had  another  private  and  prolonged  interview  and 
urged  him  to  come  out  openly  and  embrace  Christ 
before  I  should  leave,  but  the  circumstances  had  not 
changed,  and  he  could  not  bring  himself  then,  as  he 
said,  to  wreck  his  family. 

A  few  years  ago  when  an  American  deputation 
was  in  India  and  we  all  went  to  Madanapalle  with 
them  for  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  our  Me- 
morial Church,  dear  old  Bogappa  came  feebly,  walk- 
ing half  a  mile  to  the  mission  house  to  see  me,  and 
our  talk  was  again  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  salva- 
tion. 

My  heart  yearned  for  the  dear  old  man.  I  have 
never  known  a  Hindu,  not  an  open  Christian,  whom 
I  have  esteemed  and  loved  as  I  do  that  man.  Again 
I  asked  him  if  he  was  not  ready  now  to  be  baptized 
into  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  "  Oh,  I  do  want  to," 
was  his  reply;  " but  what  can  I  do  in  my  cir- 
cumstances t  As  I  told  you  before,  it  would  ruin 
my  family,  and  they  would  not  come  with  me.  My 
eldest  son,  educated  in  your  school,  and  by  your  aid 
now  holding  a  post  under  the  government,  but  not 
yet  married,  could  not  find  a  wife  if  his  father  came 
out  as  a  Christian  and  was  baptized,  and  might 


196  Obstacles  and  Hindrances 

probably  be,  by  the  united  secret  efforts  of  those 
in  his  department,  turned  out  of  his  position.  Nor 
could  my  unmarried  daughters  ever  be  married  to 
any  respectable  men  ;  while  my  wife  would  be  made 
an  outcast  in  her  old  age  ;  and,  besides,  I  am  my- 
self now  so  feeble  and  my  hands  tremble  so  that  I 
cannot  even  hold  a  cup  of  water  to  my  lips  to  drink. 
My  wife  and  family  have  even  to  feed  me.  I  am  an 
old,  old  man,  more  than  eighty  years  old  ;  I  cannot 
last  long.  Do  you  not  think  the  dear  Jesus  will  re- 
ceive me  when  I  die,  even  if  I  do  not  come  out 
openly  and  be  baptized  in  His  name?  No,  I  am 
not  ashamed  of  Him.  I  tell  everybody  that  I  be- 
lieve in  Him,  and  I  shall  die  with  His  name  upon 
my  lips.  Don't  you  think  He  will  receive  me  into 
heaven  although  I  have  not  been  baptized  and  come 
out  publicly  for  Him  ?  " 

I  could  only  reply  that  the  merciful  Jesus,  and 
not  I,  was  to  be  the  judge,  and  I  could  but  leave 
him  with  Him  who  knows  all  our  weakness  and  our 
hedgings  in,  and  who  is  our  sympathizing  High 
Priest  as  well  as  our  Judge. 

But  oh,  Christians  in  Christian  lands !  where  it 
does  not  require  such  sacrifices  and  such  ruin  to 
families  to  be  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Blessed 
Trinity,  can  you  not  sympathize  with  such  a  case 
as  this,  and  wiU'you  not  pray,  and  pray  earnestly, 
that  God  will  speedily  so  pour  out  His  spirit  here  in 


A  Hindu  Father's  Difficulty  197 

India  that  whole  families  will  come  out  boldly, 
gladly,  into  His  kingdom  and  together  witness 
for  Him— that  a  nation  here  may  be  born  in  a 
day! 


XII 

IT  COSTS  IN  INDIA  TO  BECOME  A  CHRISTIAN : 
HANUMANTA  RAU 

OTJE  first  convert  at  Madanapalle  was  a  young 
Brahman  of  nearly  twenty-two  years  of  age, 
named  Hanuinanta  Kau.  In  August,  1862, 
the  Kev.  E.  C.  Scudder  and  myself  had  gone  as  a 
committee  of  the  American  Arcot  Mission  on  a  preach- 
ing tour  to  the  north  and  west  of  Palmaner  to  visit  the 
important  towns  in  the  regions  adjacent  and  report  as 
to  the  best  one  to  be  occupied  as  a  second  Telugu 
station  of  the  mission.  Palmaner  was  then  the  only 
station  of  our  mission  in  the  Telugu  country,  and  all 
agreed  that  there  ought  to  be  at  least  two  Telugu 
stations  in  the  mission. 

We  pitched  our  tents  first  at  Madanapalle,  a  town 
of  seven  thousand  inhabitants,  thirty-four  miles 
northwest  of  Palmaner,  and  spent  some  days  in 
preaching  in  the  different  streets  of  that  town  and 
in  all  the  surrounding  villages. 

The  first  time  that  we  preached  in  the  Brahman 
street  an  educated  young  Brahman  stepped  forward 
and  began  to  ask  questions,  trying,  as  we  thought, 
to  bring  on  a  discussion,  and  so  prevent  our  present- 
ing the  truth  connectedly  and  effectively. 

198 


uJ  e 

OS    « 


>  I.I 

ujlj 

*-z 


Hanumanta  Rau  199 

"You  say,"  said  he,  "  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only 
Divine  Saviour  of  men.  You  believe  in  and  worship 
Christ.  We  believe  in  and  worship  Krishna.  If  we 
believe  with  our  whole  heart  in  either  one  and  truly 
worship  him,  we  will  in  the  end  reach  heaven. 
There  is  really  no  such  very  great  difference  between 
Krishna,  our  God,  and  Christ,  your  God.  You  wor- 
ship one  :  we  worship  the  other.  They  are  both  in- 
carnations of  the  Divinity." 

We  quoted  from  their  own  Shastras  to  show  that 
Krishna  led  a  life  of  licentiousness  and  infamy,  so 
that  all  his  contemporaries  were  afraid  to  have  him 
around,  and  all  pure  women  fled  at  his  approach ; 
besides  it  is  known  that  in  anger  he  killed  many  even 
inoffensive  men.  And  then  we  pictured  the  pure 
life  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  recorded  by  the  Evangelists, 
and  admitted  even  by  His  enemies,  and  read  from 
the  Gospels  in  our  hands  of  His  deeds  of  healing 
and  restoration  of  life,  instead  of  murder,  and  told 
of  His  wonderful  discourses  and  parables  and 
prayers,  and  asked  him  very  earnestly  and  kindly 
which  character  appealed  to  a  man  who  felt  the 
power  of  sin  and  wished  a  deliverer,  and  pressed 
him  to  take  one  of  the  Gospels  and  carefully  study 
the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  for  himself.  He  became 
quiet,  and  we  went  on  with  our  preaching  without 
further  interruption. 

That  evening,  in  another  street,  when  the  audience 


200        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

was  listening  well,  the  same  Brahman  appeared  and 
interrupted  us  with  other  questions  and  objections, 
and  seemed  to  be  bent  on  preventing  our  presenta- 
tion of  Christian  truth,  and,  after  that,  in  each  street 
audience  he  would  appear  and  ask  questions  and 
present  objections,  until  we  began  to  dread  his  ap- 
pearance, for  we  thought  him  not  a  seeker  but  a 
caviller. 

What  was  our  surprise,  therefore,  when  on  the  last 
day  of  our  proposed  stay  at  Madanapalle  he  pre- 
sented himself  at  our  tent  and  said  that  he  wished  to 
become  a  Christian,  and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  ac- 
company us  on  our  journey,  that  he  might,  on  our 
return  to  our  station  with  us,  come  out  openly  and 
embrace  Jesus  Christ  as  his  Saviour  and  be  baptized. 

We  then  learned  from  him  that  he  had  formerly 
for  several  years  been  a  student  in  a  high  school  in 
his  native  town,  Nellore,  some  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  east  of  Madanapalle,  kept  by  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland ;  that  he 
had  there  studied  the  Bible  in  his  class  daily  and  that 
in  spite  of  the  objections  that  he  was  continually 
bringing  up  in  class,  he  had  been,  in  secret,  greatly 
drawn  to  the  character  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
had  had  a  secret  longing  to  embrace  Him  as  his 
Saviour. 

He  had  not  had  the  courage  to  confess  this  there, 
where  his  near  relatives  all  lived,  but  had  come  a 


Hanumanta  Rau  201 

few  weeks  before  by  chance,  as  he  thought,  to 
Madauapalle  to  visit  distant  relatives,  and  seeing 
us  preaching  in  the  street  he  had  come  to  hear  what 
we  had  to  say  about  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  in  spite 
of  the  objections  he  had  thrown  in,  each  time  he 
heard  us,  the  truth  had  taken  stronger  and  stronger 
hold  on  him,  until  now  he  felt  that  he  must  come 
out  and  embrace  Jesus  Christ  as  his  own  personal 
Saviour,  cost  what  it  might. 

He  now  proposed  to  go  back  to  his  friends  whom 
he  was  visiting  in  the  town,  and  tell  them  that  he 
was  going  to  be  absent  for  some  days,  change  his 
raiment,  secretly  leave  the  town  and  join  us  on  our 
march  to  our  next  camping-place,  asking  what  that 
would  be.  We  had  decided  to  leave  Hadanapalle 
about  4  P.  M.  that  day  and  go  southwest  from  there, 
crossing  the  boundary  into  the  native  state  of  Mysore, 
only  seven  miles  out,  and  pitch  our  next  camp  at 
Kayalpad,  the  first  town  in  that  state  on  our  route, 
and  preach  there  and  in  its  surrounding  villages. 
Of  this  he  was  glad,  as,  crossing  into  a  native  state, 
his  friends  would  be  less  likely  to  follow  and  molest 
him  if  they  heard  in  any  way  that  he  had  joined  us. 

Promising  to  join  us  at  a  fork  in  the  road  a  mile 
out  of  town  at  5  P.  M.,  he  went  to  his  friends'  house 
and  arrayed  himself  in  three  suits  of  clothes,  which 
a  Brahman  can  do  with  his  clothing  and  not  be 
noticed,  and,  telling  his  friends  that  he  was  going  to 


2O2        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

be  gone  for  a  few  days  to  visit  some  other  friends  at 
Mushtoor,  a  town  ten  miles  east,  he  went  out  of  the 
town  by  the  east  road  and  going  around  through  the 
fields  joined  us  on  the  south  road,  as  promised.  We 
noticed  that  he  had  apparently  grown  stouter,  and 
he  explained  that  as  he  could  never  return  to  those 
Brahman  friends'  house  after  becoming  a  Christian, 
he  had  put  on  all  the  clothing  he  had  brought  with 
him,  and  had  also  thrown  his  sleeping  blanket  over 
his  shoulder,  saying  that  he  might  need  it  at  Mush- 
toor, and  joining  the  cart  in  which  our  native 
preachers  were  travelling  with  their  luggage  he  went 
on  with  them,  while  we  rode  along  before  on  our 
country  ponies. 

At  9  P.  M.  of  that  moonlit  night  we  pitched  our 
tents  at  Eayalpad,  and  he  at  once  took  his  evening 
meal  with  the  Christian  catechists,  thus  forever 
breaking  his  caste.  Early  the  next  morning  he 
came  to  our  tent  and,  asking  me  if  I  had  any 
scissors  with  me,  requested  me  to  cut  off  his 
"  Kudumai,"  or  Brahmanical  tuft  of  hair,  and  his 
Brahman's  cord  from  over  his  shoulder,  that  he 
might  be  absolutely  done  with  all  connection  with 
Brahmans,  and  be  an  open  and  loyal  servant  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

We  had  a  talk  with  him  and  told  him  what  it 
might  cost  him,  while  we  offered  a  prayer  for  guid- 
ance and  blessing.  He  said  he  knew  that  his  people 


Hanumanta  Rau  203 

would  kill  him  if  they  could,  if  that  would  prevent 
his  becoming  a  Christian,  but  if  they  killed  him  he 
would  only  go  the  sooner  to  his  adored  Saviour, 
whom  he  had  now  definitely  taken  as  his  own,  and, 
on  his  insistence,  I  took  my  scissors  and  cut  off  tuft 
and  cord. 

We  were  surprised  at  his  extensive  knowledge  of 
the  Bible  and  of  vital  Christian  truth  which  he  had 
before  obtained  in  the  high  school,  and  by  secretly 
reading  the  Bible  before,  for  he  daily  joined  our 
preaching  band  and  himself  preached  in  the  towns 
and  villages  we  visited,  to  the  end  of  our  tour, 
being  daily  instructed  further  by  us  and  our 
catechists  while  in  camp.  At  the  end  of  the  tour 
it  was  arranged  that  he  should  return  with  Dr.  Scud- 
der  and  spend  some  months  with  him  at  his  station, 
Vellore,  and  be  under  his  instruction  and  be  baptized 
there,  being  further  away  from  Madanapalle  and 
from  his  old  home  and  family  friends  than  Palmaner, 
and  thus  less  likely  to  be  molested  or  assaulted  by 
his  old  caste  people. 

After  three  months'  instruction,  and  being  seem- 
ingly sincere  and  strong  in  the  faith,  he  was  baptized 
by  Dr.  Scudder,  and  after  a  few  weeks  more,  as  his 
friends  had  not,  so  far,  seemed  inclined  to  molest 
him,  it  was  decided  best  for  him  to  return  with  me 
to  Palmaner,  and  pursue  his  studies  under  my 
supervision  there  in  the  edge  of  the  Telugu  country 


204        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

that  he  might  become  a  Telugu  Christian  preacher, 
for  he  was  well  educated  in  Telugu  and  seemed  bright 
and  intelligent  and  earnest. 

It  was  therefore  arranged  that  he  should  leave 
Dr.  Scudder's  station,  Vellore,  on  a  certain  Wednes- 
day morning,  and  coming  as  far  as  Chittoor,  our 
mission  station  half-way,  spend  that  night  with  our 
Christian  helpers  there,  and  the  next  day  come  on  to 
Palmaner.  "Walking  was  the  mode  of  journeying,  as 
there  were  no  public  conveyances,  and  Hindus  were 
as  much  accustomed  to  journeying  on  foot  in  those 
days  as  were  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  Christ. 

As  he  did  not  reach  Palmaner  Thursday  night,  as 
agreed,  I  wrote  to  Dr.  Scudder  asking  the  reason  of 
the  delay.  A  reply  came  back  that  he  had  left 
Vellore  Wednesday  morning,  as  promised,  for 
Chittoor,  and  that  one  of  the  Vellore  catechists 
had  walked  with  him  until  he  had  passed  the  rail- 
way station,  five  miles  out,  where  the  catechist  had 
turned  back,  as  it  was  a  perfectly  plain  road,  and 
left  him  to  walk  on  to  Chittoor  alone.  In  response  to 
a  note  to  Chittoor,  sent  at  the  same  time,  a  reply  came 
that  Hauumanta  Eau  had  not  been  seen  at  Chittoor. 

Suspecting  foul  play,  Dr.  Scudder  immediately 
applied  to  the  police  under  a  European  inspector  to 
try  and  trace  him.  Constables  were  at  once  put  on 
his  track,  and  after  two  days  reported  that  such  a 
man  had  been  seen  to  pass  through  a  village  seven 


Hanumanta  Rau  205 

miles  out  from  Vellore  on  the  road  to  Chittoor,  in 
company  with  two  Brahmans,  but  that  they  could  be 
traced  no  farther. 

We  knew  not  what  to  think,  but  the  police  de- 
clined to  try  to  trace  him  farther,  as  he  was  charged 
with  no  crime,  and  we  had  no  legal  claim  upon  him. 
They  suggested  that  he  had  probably  gone  to  visit 
friends  somewhere  and  would  turn  up  in  good  time. 

Many  months  passed,  and  still  no  news  came  of 
him.  We  concluded  that  possibly  he  had  gone  back 
on  his  professions,  returned  to  his  friends  deny- 
ing that  he  had  broken  caste  or  been  baptized,  and 
had  resumed  his  standing  as  an  orthodox  Brahman. 
We  earnestly  prayed,  however,  that  God  would  give 
him  no  peace  until  he  once  more  found  it  in  an  open 
profession  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Nearly  a  year  later,  all  the  facts  came  out.  It 
seems  that  the  two  Brahmans  who  had  been  seen 
with  him  passing  the  village  seven  miles  from 
Vellore  were  men  from  Nellore,  who  had  been  hired 
by  his  uncles  to  go  to  Vellore,  where  they  had  heard 
that  Hanumanta  Kau  was  then  staying,  and  secretly 
watch  their  opportunity  to  decoy  him  and  get  him 
back  into  their  clutches.  Those  two  Brahmans  had 
been  in  Vellore  for  weeks  dogging  his  movements 
and  getting  all  the  information  they  could  as  to  his 
plans,  but  keeping  out  of  his  sight,  and  he  was  not 
on  his  guard. 


206        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

They  had  in  some  way  learned  that  he  was  that 
day  to  start  on  foot  for  Palmaner,  and  their  plans  were 
soon  laid.  Confident  that  they  had  not  yet  been 
recognized,  they  followed  him  and  the  catechist  in 
the  distance  until  the  catechist  had  turned  back, 
and  after  half  a  mile,  they,  walking  more  rapidly, 
had  overtaken  him.  Feigning  surprise  at  coming 
across  him  there,  they  cordially  saluted  him  as  an 
old  acquaintance  and  entered  into  conversation  with 
him,  saying  that  they  had  been  to  Yellore  on  im- 
portant business  of  their  own  and  were  just  on  their 
way  home  to  Nellore  on  foot  via  Chittoor  and  so 
walked  on  with  him. 

Hanumanta  Eau,  not  wishing  to  be  thought 
"ashamed  of  Jesus,"  frankly  told  them  of  his 
change  of  faith,  and  that  he  had  been  baptized 
and  received  as  a  Christian,  and  also  told  them  of 
the  peace  and  joy  of  heart  that  he  had  from  his  new 
faith,  and  that,  come  what  would,  he  would  live  and 
die  a  Christian. 

They  expressed  their  deep  regret  at  the  step  which 
he  had  taken  and  at  his  expressed  determination  to 
stand  fast  in  his  new  faith  until  death,  but  said, 
with  feigned  sincerity,  that  in  such  matters  each 
man  must  decide  for  himself  and  act  upon  his  own 
convictions,  and  asked  him,  casually  as  it  seemed, 
if  his  wife  had  joined  him  or  was  going  to  join  him 
as  a  Christian. 


Hanumanta  Rau  207 

He  had  before  told  us  that,  as  is  the  custom  with 
so  many  Hindu  students,  he  had  been  married  to  a 
young  Brahman  girl  of  high  family  when  he  entered 
the  high  school  and  began  to  study  Bible  lessons  and 
learn  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  when  he  had  first 
begun  to  admire  the  character  of  Jesus  he  had 
talked  with  her  freely  about  it,  hoping  to  enlist 
her  sympathy  in  his  investigations  and  his  long- 
ings for  such  a  Saviour ;  but  she  had  forbidden 
him  to  talk  about  it,  and  told  him  that  if  he  did 
not  give  up  all  that  nonsense  she  would  leave  him, 
return  to  her  father's  house,  and  never  speak  to 
him  again.  This  was  the  situation  when  he  went 
to  visit  his  friends  in  Madanapalle,  and  he  had 
told  us  that  he  feared  that  he  would  never  be 
allowed  to  speak  to  his  wife  again,  as  her  father 
was  a  most  bigoted  Brahman. 

Now,  however,  that  these  "  friends,"  as  he  was 
led  to  think  them,  asked  him  about  her  sympa- 
thetically, his  heart  yearned  for  his  girl-wife,  and 
he  sadly  told  them  that  she  had  not  become  a 
Christian  with  him,  and  he  feared  she  never  would, 
and  that  he  might  never  again  be  permitted  to  see 
her. 

"That  is  a  great  pity,"  said  they.  "It  is  too 
bad  that  you  have  become  a  Christian,  but  that 
ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  break  up  a  family. 
If  you  do  not  persuade  her  to  go  with  you,  you 


208        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

know  what  will  happen :  she  will  be  treated  as 
though  you  were  dead  :  her  head  will  be  shaved 
and  her  nice  clothing  taken  away  and  the  hated 
garb  of  a  widow  put  on  her,  and  she  will  be  treated 
and  abused  as  a  widow  as  long  as  she  lives.  Are 
you  willing  that  she  should  be  made  to  suffer  so  t 
Come  home  with  us  and  we  will  try  and  get  her 
to  join  you.  We  are,  as  you  know,  of  the  same 
clan  of  Brahmans  as  her  father,  and  we  will  per- 
suade him  to  let  his  daughter  secretly  join  you, 
provided  you  will  promise  that  you  will  take  her 
far  away  to  your  new-found  friends  and  never 
bring  her  back  to  Nellore.  We  promise  you  that 
if  you  will  come  with  us  we  will  make  it  all  right." 

Overjoyed  at  the  chance  of  getting  back  his  wife, 
believing  them  to  be  sincere,  and  after  further  talk 
and  promises  on  their  part,  he  yielded,  thinking 
that  he  would  go  to  Nellore  and  get  his  wife  and 
that  he  and  she  would  then  come  together  to  Pal- 
maner  and  together  study  the  Divine  Oracles  and 
together  enter  the  service  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Having  thus,  by  guile,  obtained  his  promise  to 
go  with  them  to  Nellore,  to  avoid  being  seen  pass- 
ing any  village  on  the  road  and  so  be  traced,  they 
told  him,  as  they  had  before  planned,  that  they 
knew  a  much  shorter  road  than  via  Chittoor  to 
Nellore,  across  country,  and  that  if  he  would  come 
that  way  with  them  he  would  be.  able  to  reach  his 


Hanumanta  Rau  209 

wife  two  days  earlier,  and,  not  suspecting  their  real 
purpose,  he  consented. 

Leaving  the  main  road  they  went  by  a  foot-path 
across  the  fields  and  through  the  jungles,  stopping 
to  rest  under  a  tree  now  and  then,  one  of  them  stay- 
ing with  him  while  the  other  went  to  the  nearest 
village  bazaar  to  purchase  food  which  they  cooked 
themselves,  and,  putting  out  on  a  leaf  plate  a  por- 
tion for  him,  went  to  a  distance  to  eat  their  own, 
as  caste  rules  required,  he  having  told  them  that 
he  had  been  eating  with  Christians.  It  was  the 
moonlit  half  of  the  month  and  they  easily  per- 
suaded him  that  it  was  better  to  travel  by  night 
and  stop  over  the  heat  of  the  day  in  some  CJiat- 
ram  (rest-house),  they  doing  this  to  avoid  being 
traced. 

They  planned  to  arrive  at  Nellore  late  in  the  night, 
so  as  not  to  let  it  be  known  to  outsiders  that  they 
had  brought  him,  having  sent  a  trusty  Brahman 
messenger  on  hours  in  advance  to  inform  his  grand- 
father that  they  had  made  the  capture,  and  that  he 
was  to  have  a  safe  room  ready. 

On  reaching  his  grandfather's  house,  at  2  A.  M., 
tired  and  footsore,  he  was  shown  by  an  old  servant 
into  a  room  which  he  had  never  before  known  used 
as  a  bedroom,  and  told  that  that  was  to  be  his 
room  for  the  night,  and  that  his  grandfather  would 
see  him  in  the  morning. 


2io        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

A  rug  had  been  placed  there  for  him  to  sleep  on, 
and,  wearied  as  he  was,  he  lay  down  at  once  to  sleep, 
only  wondering  as  he  heard  the  old  servant  lock  the 
door  on  the  outside,  he  not  realizing  at  all  that  he 
was  a  kidnapped  and  caged  prisoner. 

In  the  morning,  Hanumanta  Rau's  grandfather 
came  to  see  him  in  his  prison  room,  but,  avoiding 
touching  him,  seated  himself  on  a  stool  at  a  distance, 
and  at  first  began  kindly  to  reason  with  him,  trying 
with  every  inducement  that  he  could  possibly  offer, 
of  wealth,  honour,  position,  and  the  restoration  of 
his  wife,  to  induce  him  to  promise  to  recant  and  re- 
turn to  his  ancestral  faith  before  it  should  be  known 
that  he  had  returned,  or  publicly  known  that  he  had 
been  baptized  as  a  Christian,  for  so  far  only  the 
family  had  heard  even  the  rumour. 

Failing  to  obtain  any  indications  of  assent,  he 
changed  his  tactics  and  threatened  him  with  every 
conceivable  evil  if  he  continued  obdurate,  and  finally 
told  him  that  he  should  never  leave  that  room  alive 
to  go  back  and  demean  himself  and  disgrace  the 
whole  family  by  associating  with  "  Christian  dogs." 

Hanumanta  then  for  the  first  time  began  to  see 
that  he  had  been  entrapped  by  the  men  who  had 
seemed  so  friendly  when  they  met  him  on  the  road 
near  Vellore,  and  for  the  first  time  he  realized  that 
he  was  really  a  prisoner. 

His  grandfather  then  left  him  and  went  at  once  to 


Hanumanta  Rau  211 

the  two  keenest  and  wiliest  of  the  Brahman  priests 
of  Nellore  and  offered  them  five  thousand  rupees 
(a  fortune  to  a  Hindu)  if  they  by  their  reasoning 
and  their  logic,  or  in  any  way,  would  reconvert  his 
grandson  to  the  ancestral  faith,  and  by  expiatory 
rites  restore  him  to  standing  in  his  caste.  They 
willingly  undertook  the  task.  They  were  not  to  let 
any  one  else  know  that  it  was  even  rumoured  that  he 
had  become  a  Christian  or  that  he  was  now  back  in 
Nellore. 

In  the  afternoon  they  came  and  were  admitted  into 
Hauumanta's  prison  room,  and  first  with  flattering 
words  and  specious  arguments  tried  to  lure  him  back. 
But  to  all  their  words  he  produced  answers  from  his 
pocket  Telugu  Testament,  which  he  had  very  dil- 
igently studied,  and  told  them  earnestly  of  the 
love  of  God,  as  manifested  in  Jesus  Christ  and  re- 
vealed in  the  Gospels,  with  such  vigour  and  force 
and  evident  thorough  conviction  that  they  were  con- 
founded, and  finally  left  him,  telliDg  him  that  they 
would  come  again  the  next  day,  and  show  him  his 
folly  and  prove  that  they  and  his  forebears  were 
right  in  believing  Brahinanisin  God's  ultimate 
revelation  to  mankind,  or  at  least  to  the  Hindu 
race.  This,  they  added,  was  that  all  Brahmans,  at 
all  events,  must  do  and  follow,  at  the  peril  of  eternal 
wrath  and  millions  of  transmigrations,  and  cautioned 
him  that  it  would  be  at  the  peril  of  his  life  should 


212         It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

he  continue  in  his  contumacy,  for  that  no  one  out  of 
the  family  but  themselves  knew  of  his  being  again 
in  Nellore,  and  that  his  grandfather  had  sworn  with 
a  great  oath  to  starve  him  to  death  in  that  room,  un- 
known to  the  police  or  to  any  one  else,  unless  he 
recanted.  He  said  that  he  knew  it,  but  that  God's 
own  Son,  his  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  had  said,  "He  that 
loseth  his  life  for  My  sake  shall  find  it,"  and  that  he 
was  going  to  put  Him  to  the  proof ;  opening  his  New 
Testament,  he  read  to  them  in  their  own  language 
Jesus'  word  (in  Matt.  10 :  32-39)  beginning  with  the 
words  "  whosoever  therefore  shall  confess  Me  before 
men,  him  will  I  confess  also  before  My  Father  who 
is  in  heaven,"  and  told  them  that  he  would  rather 
die  and  go  there  and  be  confessed  by  Jesus  Christ 
than  to  live  a  long  and  easy  life  as  a  Brahman.  The 
result  of  the  interview  was  that  they  left  him  with 
curses. 

The  next  day  they  came  and  tried  again,  having 
persuaded  his  grandfather  to  take  away  and  burn  the 
book  "which  made  him  so  obstinate,"  but  all  to  no 
avail ;  and  after  a  week  they  gave  their  task  up, 
threatening  the  grandfather  with  direst  curses  if  he 
did  not  put  "that  renegade"  out  of  the  way. 

Only  a  little  boiled  rice  with  no  curry,  and  with- 
out even  any  salt  on  it,  was  given  him  to  eat,  and 
even  that  became  less  and  less  day  by  day,  until  the 
stout  fellow  we  had  known  became  only  a  skeleton. 


Hanumanta  Rau  213 

The  rich  and  influential  old  grandfather  then  went 
to  the  bigoted  Brahman  father  of  Hanumanta' s  wife 
and  succeeded  in  inducing  him  to  waive  his  own 
pride  and  reluctance  and  see  Hanumanta,  and 
promise  to  restore  to  him  his  wife  if  he  would  recant 
and  accept  restoration  to  full  Brahmanhood  at  the 
hands  of  the  priests  his  grandfather  had  covenanted 
with,  and  he  poured  into  his  ears  bogus  messages  of 
intense  wifely  love  and  devotion  as  from  his  wife,  if 
he  would  only  come  back  to  her,  but  all  to  no  avail. 
Hanumanta  was  sorely  tried,  but  praying  for  help 
he  quoted  to  him  Christ's  words  about  those  who 
have  forsaken  even  a  wife  for  His  sake  inheriting 
everlasting  life,  and  said  that  he  was  looking  for  that 
everlasting  life  and  would  for  the  sake  of  that  will- 
ingly forsake  all  things.  The  bigoted  father  went 
away,  foiled  and  disappointed,  and  in  turn  cursing 
him  soundly. 

Hanumanta' s  own  parents  had  died  when  he  was  a 
little  boy  and  he  had  been  cared  for  in  the  grand- 
father's family  where  his  father's  father  and  his 
father  and  uncles  and  their  families  had  all  lived  as 
a  true  Hindu  undivided  household,  and  his  grand- 
father and  uncles  had  taken  the  place  of  father  to 
him  and  had  hitherto  been  very  kind,  but  they  were 
now  as  one  in  the  determination  to  make  him  recant 
or  starve  him  to  death.  Thus  three  months  passed. 

One  day  his  grandmother  brought  his  food  to  him 


214        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

in  the  evening  ;  she  had  always  been  very  fond  of 
him  and  had  made  him  quite  a  pet.  To  her  he  ap- 
pealed so  earnestly  that  she  quite  yearned  to  help 
him.  He  told  her  that  she  could  see  that  he  would 
never  yield  and  give  up  his  Jesus,  and  that  when  he 
died  in  their  house  of  starvation,  it  must  become 
known  and  the  scandal  would  be  a  terrible  blow  to 
them.  He  therefore  persuaded  her  that  it  would  be 
far  better  for  the  family  if  he  should  escape  and  go 
far  away  and  never  be  heard  from,  for  no  one  in 
Nellore,  outside  the  family,  as  yet  knew  that  he  had 
come  back  from  his  former  long  absence  or  had  be- 
come a  Christian,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  make  peo- 
ple believe  that  he  had  died  of  cholera  long  ago, 
while  absent. 

He  finally  persuaded  her  to  let  him  go  out  for  an 
hour  that  evening,  he  promising  her  to  go  and  re- 
turn before  the  others  should  suspect  his  ab- 
sence. 

He  ran  to  the  house  of  the  nearest  missionary,  of 
another  society  from  the  one  under  whom  he  had 
studied,  for  he  lived  more  than  a  mile  away,  and 
rushing  agitated  into  his  study  told  him  his  story. 

The  missionary  (Mr.  D.)  had  slightly  known  the 
lad  before  and  fully  entered  into  his  plans  for  escape. 
He  had  been  himself  intending  for  some  time  to  go 
to  Madras  on  important  business  in  a  few  days.  He 
now  determined  to  hasten  his  preparation  and  agreed 


Hanumanta  Rau  215 

to  go  the  very  next  night,  if  Hanumanta  could 
manage  to  join  him,  which  he  was  sure  he  could 
persuade  his  grandmother,  who  not  only  feared  the 
scandal  of  his  death  and  its  being  known  that  he  had 
been  starved  because  he  had  become  a  Christian,  but 
who  really  loved  the  boy  and  was  willing  that  he 
should  get  away,  and  she  promised  that  he  should 
have  the  chance  to  do  so  at  the  same  hour  the  next 
evening. 

Just  after  dark  the  following  evening,  the  old  lady, 
true  to  her  promise,  brought  him  his  food  and  as 
soon  as  he  had  eaten  the  food  she  had  brought  she 
went  out  and  made  considerable  noise  in  apparently 
locking  the  door  securely  as  usual,  but  really  leav- 
ing it  so  that  he  could  himself  open  it  when  all 
should  again  be  quiet,  and  going  into  the  family 
room  reported  all  quiet  for  the  night,  and  that  he 
was  apparently  more  inclined  to  listen  to  reason, 
since  he  was  now  convinced  that  his  case  was  hope- 
less. Hanumanta  Eau,  as  soon  as  he  discovered 
from  the  sounds  he  heard  that  the  family  were  fairly 
engaged  with  their  evening  meal,  and  the  clatter 
made  it  less  likely  that  they  would  detect  any  slight 
and  unavoidable  noise,  deftly  loosened  the  fastenings 
of  the  door  as  quietly  as  possible,  and,  in  the  dark- 
ness, very  cautiously  slipped  outside,  almost  wonder- 
ing that  they  did  not  hear  his  heart-beats,  so  violently 
did  it  seem,  in  his  intense  excitement,  to  beat  against 


2l6        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

the  walls  of  his  chest,  and,  feeling  his  way  cautiously 
out  of  the  crooked  back  passage  into  the  side  street 
through  the  back  door,  left  open  for  the  purpose  by 
the  old  grandmother,  went  as  rapidly  as  his  feeble 
condition  would  allow,  and  quietly  to  avoid  exciting 
suspicion,  once  more  to  the  house  of  the  missionary 
who  had  promised  to  secretly  convey  him  away. 

Mr.  D.  providentially  had  a  strong,  fast  horse 
which  was  already  fastened  to  the  carriage  to  go  the 
first  twelve  miles,  for  he  had  that  morning  sent  his 
travelling  coach,  with  fast  trotting  bullocks,  on 
twelve  miles  to  be  in  waiting  for  them,  and  had 
previously  arranged  for  relays  of  trotting  bullocks  to 
be  posted  at  each  eight-mile-stage  all  the  way  to 
Madras,  so  as  to  make  the  best  time  possible,  with 
no  chance  of  delay  on  the  way. 

Putting  a  well-filled  lunch-basket  in  the  carriage 
at  their  feet  and  a  flask  of  water,  they  got  into  the 
carriage,  and  driving  out  of  the  back  gate  of  the 
compound  and  through  a  byway  until  they  had 
cleared  the  town,  he  turned  into  the  Madras  high- 
road and  put  the  horse  to  his  mettle  to  reach  the 
bullock  coach  as  soon  as  possible. 

The  coach,  as  usual  with  India  travelling  coaches 
for  posting  with  bullocks  for  long  journeys,  was  en- 
tered by  a  door  in  the  rear,  like  a  city  omnibus  at 
home,  and,  for  night  travel,  the  seats  opened  out 
together  and  the  cushions  could  be  arranged  to  cover 


Hanumanta  Rau  217 

the  whole  and  make  a  comfortable  bed  for  two  to  lie 
upon  and  obtain  a  fair  amount  of  sleep. 

Hauunianta,  however,  was  so  fearful  of  being  seen, 
or  reported  and  followed,  that  he  insisted  on  crawl- 
ing in  underneath  with  the  baggage  for  the  first  two 
stages  at  least,  so  that  people  that  passed  them  would 
see  Mr.  D.  alone  in  the  coach  and  think  no  one  was 
with  him  and  so  report  if  questioned.  By  the 
promise  of  an  extra  present  to  each  driver  if  he 
made  extra  speed  for  his  stage,  and  giving  it  to  him 
while  the  driver  for  the  next  stage  was  looking,  and 
promising  him  too  a  present  if  the  watch  showed 
that  he  had  made  extra  speed  at  the  end  of  his  route, 
they  were  able  to  go  through  in  much  less  than  the 
usual  time,  and  on  reaching  Madras,  instead  of  going 
to  the  mission  house  where  he  usually  put  up,  Mr.  D. 
had  the  last  driver  take  them  directly  to  the  railway 
station  where  a  train  for  Vellore  was  just  about  to 
start.  Here,  placing  Hanumanta  in  the  train,  he 
watched  it  pull  out,  and  then  went  to  the  telegraph 
office  and  sent  a  telegram  to  Dr.  E.  C.  Scudder  telling 
him  that  Hanumanta  was  on  the  train  and  asking 
him  to  meet  him  on  his  arrival  and  have  him  carefully 
guarded  and  protected.  Thence  he  went  to  the  mis- 
sion house  and  lay  down  to  rest  after  his  anxious 
journey. 

Scarcely  had  he  risen  from  his  nap  before  the 
house  was  surrounded  by  a  mob  of  furious  Bran- 


218        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

minis.  Hanumanta's  uncles  had  discovered  his 
flight  before  morning  and  had  parties  out  mak- 
ing vigorous  search  for  any  clue  as  to  where  he 
had  gone.  Discovering  Mr.  D.'s  horse  and  car- 
riage coming  back  towards  his  house  from  the 
Madras  highroad  shortly  after  sunrise,  they  had 
seized  the  native  horse-boy,  not  a  Christian,  who 
had  gone  out  with  them  to  bring  the  horse  and 
carriage  back,  and  by  threats  and  promises  of  money 
had  made  him  confess  that  his  master  had  gone  to 
Madras  and  that  he  had  driven  out  twelve  miles 
after  dark  the  night  before  with  a  stranger,  ap- 
parently a  Brahman,  in  with  him,  and  that  on 
reaching  the  bullock  coach  which  he  had  sent  on 
the  morning  before,  the  Brahman  had  crawled 
in  under  the  seats  with  the  luggage,  and  the  driver 
had  driven  off  furiously  with  the  promise  of  an 
extra  present  for  extra  speed. 

Gathering  that  Mr.  D.  had  taken  Hanumanta  to 
Madras,  they  determined  to  follow  him  there  with 
all  speed  and  again  obtain  possession  of  their  ren- 
egade nephew,  who  had  for  the  present  eluded 
their  grasp. 

Hastily  arranging  for  a  very  rapid  journey,  with 
post  bullocks,  they  first  found  a  dismissed  former 
servant  of  the  missionary  and  learned  from  him 
where  his  master  had  been  accustomed  to  put  up 
whenever  he  went  to  Madras.  Thither,  off  they 


Hanumanta  Rau  219 

went,  making  frantic  efforts  all  the  way  to  out- 
travel  the  previous  party,  and  though  they  had 
not  obtained  the  clue  until  the  missionary  had 
been  gone  at  least  ten  hours,  so  freely  did  they 
use  money  and  so  frantically  did  they  urge  on  the 
drivers,  that,  going  directly  to  the  mission  house, 
they  were  there  not  very  long  after  the  mission- 
ary himself. 

On  the  way  through  the  Brahman  street  they  had 
gathered  a  mob  of  their  caste  people,  and  now 
surrounding  the  house  they  burst  in  and  found  the 
missionary  just  risen  from  his  nap,  and  angrily  de- 
manded the  surrender  of  their  nephew,  telling  him 
that  they  were  going  to  prosecute  him  for  kidnap- 
ping and  spiriting  away  a  minor. 

The  missionary  told  them  that  he  was  not  here, 
that  they  might  search  the  house  and  see  for  them- 
selves, but  as  they  had  informed  him  that  they  were 
going  to  prosecute  him  in  court,  he  would  refuse 
now  to  answer  any  questions,  reserving  all  answers 
to  be  given  under  oath  in  court  and  that  he  would 
be  very  glad  if  they  would  prosecute  him,  for  it 
would  give  him  the  best  opportunity  to  bring  a 
counter-prosecution  against  them  for  wrongful  re- 
straint and  starving,  for  that  they  knew  perfectly 
well  that  he  was  not  a  minor,  according  to  the 
law  of  India,  for  when  he  had  entered  the  high 
school,  there  being  some  question  about  his  age, 


22O         It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

his  horoscope  had  been  produced  and  the  exact 
date  of  his  birth  recorded,  and  court  would  take 
that  school  register's  copy  of  the  horoscope,  sworn 
to  by  the  head  master,  as  conclusive  evidence,  and 
a  prosecution  would  enable  him  to  bring  out  in 
open  court  sworn  evidence  of  his  having  become 
a  Christian  and  having  been  baptized  and  decoyed 
away  and  imprisoned  in  their  house,  and  even 
though  they  might  not  be  convicted  and  punished, 
it  would  still  publish  to  all  the  world  the  full  facts 
in  the  case,  which  they  were  so  anxious  to  conceal. 

He  told  them  that  Hanumanta,  being  of  legal  age, 
had  gone  where  he  pleased  after  they  reached 
Madras,  and  he  was  now  going  to  reserve  any 
further  information  to  be  given  in  court  and  trusted 
that  they  would  hasten  on  the  prosecution,  for  he 
himself  would  be  back  in  Nellore  the  next  week 
and  ready  to  appear  in  court:  that  they  might 
search  the  house  thoroughly  and  satisfy  themselves 
that  he  was  not  concealed  there ;  farther  than  that 
he  would  say  nothing. 

No  one  else  being  in  the  house,  they  ransacked 
it  thoroughly  every  room,  bath  room  and  closet  and 
outside  servants'  quarters  and  stable,  and  after  an 
hour  went  away  disappointed  and  angry,  with  no 
clue  whatever  as  to  what  had  become  of  him. 

Hanumanta  had  reached  Yellore  safely,  and  had 
been  gladly  welcomed  by  Dr.  Scudder  and  the 


Hanumanta  Rau  221 

Christian  community,  and  had  under  the  best  med- 
ical advice  been  cautiously  dieted  until  he  should 
get  over  the  effect  of  his  starvation.  He  seemed 
strange  and  not  like  his  former  bright  self,  but  it 
was  thought  that  it  was  the  effect  of  the  hard- 
ships he  had  undergone,  plus  the  starvation  and 
anxiety. 

But  as  weeks  and  months  passed  by  it  was  found 
that  it  was  something  worse  than  starvation  that  he 
had  been  subjected  to. 

He  had  stood  up  so  nobly  for  his  new-found  faith 
and  presented  the  reasons  therefor  so  lucidly  and 
so  strongly  as  utterly  to  confound  the  most  learned 
Brahmaus  who  came  to  argue  with  him.  They  had 
first  taken  away  and  burned  his  New  Testament, 
but  his  mind  was  so  stored  with  its  truths  and  words 
that  they  did  not  silence  him,  and  being  unable 
to  withstand  the  power  with  which  his  clear  intellect 
so  vividly  set  forth  "the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus" 
and  being  at  last  convinced  that  his  return  to  Brah- 
manism  was  utterly  out  of  the  question,  they  had 
had  resort  to  the  old  witches  of  the  town  to  wreck 
his  intellect. 

As  will  be  more  at  length  set  forth  in  the  sketch 
of  Bima  Eow  (in  the  next  chapter),  it  is  acknowl- 
edged by  the  European  medical  faculty  of  India 
that  the  witches  of  India  have  a  drug  which,  while 
it  does  not  poison  one  in  the  sense  of  taking  away 


222         It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

life,  will  destroy  the  natural  working  of  the  human 
mind  and  leave  one  partially  insane,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes. 

This  worse  than  poison  had  in  the  last  part  of  his 
imprisonment  been  mixed  with  the  small  modicum 
of  food  which  had  been  daily  put  into  Hanumanta's 
cell  and  had  had  its  effect,  for  while  it  had  not  made 
him  a  raving  maniac,  as  it  has  some,  had  so  clouded 
his  formerly  bright  intellect  as  to  make  him  in- 
capable of  pursuing  a  course  of  study  to  become  a 
Christian  evangelist  as  had  been  planned.  He  was 
tenderly  cared  for  and  medically  treated  by  the  most 
skilled  physicians  for  months,  but  the  case  was  finally 
pronounced  hopeless. 

His  Christian  character  was,  however,  excellent, 
and  for  ordinary  occupations  he  seemed  to  be  all 
right ;  but  every  now  and  then  the  inanity  of  his 
mind  would  be  too  evident  for  him  to  be  a  Christian 
preacher. 

He  himself  seemed  to  be  fully  aware  of  his  present 
limitations  and  that  he  could  not  be  an  evangelist, 
and  he,  therefore,  begged  for  some  other  employment 
by  which  he  could  earn  an  honest  livelihood. 

Just  then  the  government  were  calling  for  a  force 
of  vaccinators  to  be  enlisted,  as  compulsory  vaccina- 
tion had  been  introduced,  and  trained  vaccinators 
were  to  be  sent  through  all  the  towns  and  villages  of 
each  taluk  (county),  and  poor  Hanumanta  was,  with 


Hanumanta  Rau  223 

our  sad  consent,  enlisted  and  trained  for  that  work, 
for  which  we  were  thankful  that  he  proved  quite 
competent,  and,  after  passing  his  examination,  he 
was  posted  to  a  district  where  there  were  many 
Christians,  and  with  our  blessing  he  went  and  took 
up  his  appointment  and  secured  the  warm  com- 
mendation of  his  superiors  as  a  very  diligent  and 
faithful  worker. 

About  this  period  Dr.  Scudder  was  obliged  to  go 
to  Nellore  on  business,  and  here  he  met  the  uncles 
who  had  imprisoned  and  tried  to  bring  Hanumanta 
back  to  Brahmanism.  They  had  given  up  their 
nephew  as  hopelessly  cut  off  from  them,  but  enquired 
after  his  welfare,  and  finally  they  said  to  Dr.  Scud- 
der :  "  Sir,  what  is  it  that  makes  your  Ve'da  have 
such  a  power  over  those  who  receive  it  f  There  was 
our  nephew  !  "We  had  him  entirely  in  our  power,  as 
we  and  he  believed,  but  every  morning  and  noon  and 
night,  no  matter  who  was  present,  he  would,  until  we 
burned  it,  take  up  his  Christian  Veda  and  read  in  it 
and  then  kneel  down  and  talk  as  though  he  saw  Him, 
though  we  could  see  no  one,  to  his  God  Jesus  Christ, 
and  when  he  got  up  from  his  knees  you  could  do 
nothing  with  him.  He  would  not  yield  an  atom  to 
any  argument  or  persuasion.  You  never  saw  so 
stubborn  a  man  as  he  was  each  time  after  he  had 
read  in  his  Ve'da  and  talked  to  his  God.  How  is  it 
that  your  Ve'da  makes  people  so  stubborn?  " 


224        I*  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

Yes,  grandly  " stubborn"  had  he  been  throughout 
his  long  and  almost  hopeless  imprisonment  and 
starvation,  for  he  had  remembered  St.  Paul's  injunc- 
tion to  his  spiritual  children  "stand  fast  in  the  faith, 
quit  you  like  men  :  be  strong." 

And  "  stubborn"  did  he  continue  in  his  Christian 
course  to  the  end,  for,  though  his  intellect  was  weak, 
his  Christian  character  was  strong,  and  wherever  he 
went  he  was  noted  as  a  staunch  Christian  much  given 
to  prayer. 

In  his  new  work,  both  among  Christians  and  non- 
Christians,  he  was  known  by  all  as  an  unflinching 
and  consistent  follower  of  his  master,  Jesus  Christ. 

Good  news  continued  to  come  from  him  and  con- 
cerning him  from  Christian  workers  in  his  new 
district  for  a  year,  and  then  one  of  India's  epidemics 
swept  over  that  region  and  news  came  that  Hanu- 
manta  had  died  in  the  faith,  testifying  in  his  latest 
breath  to  the  love  and  faithfulness  of  that  Saviour 
in  whose  name  he  had  endured  so  much.  His  body 
had  been  buried  in  the  little  rural  cemetery  of  the 
place  to  await  the  resurrection  trumpet  when  the 
body  should  unite  again  with  the  spirit,  the  intellect 
being  no  longer  beclouded,  "for  they  that  be  wise 
shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament." 


xm 

IT  COSTS  IN  INDIA  TO  BECOME  A  CHRISTIAN : 
BIMA  ROW 

"  "W  "IT  T  OULD  yon  not  like  to  come  with  me, 

\/\/     and  go  over  the  Leper  Hospital  and 

the  Branch  Insane  Asylum  T    It  is  my 

morning  for   inspecting   them.      You   have   to   do 

with  leprosy  in  your  hospital  at  Madanapalle,  and 

would  perhaps  like  to  see  what  we  can  show  you 

here,  and  I  am  sure  you  would  like  to  see  poor 

Bima  Kow." 

"Yes,  indeed,  doctor,"  I  replied.  "I  would,  for 
I  have  long  wanted  to  know  more  about  his  case." 

"Yes,"  he  said,  "I  will  tell  you  all  about  it,"  and 
he  proceeded  as  we  drove  along  to  give  me  the  fol- 
lowing narrative : 

Bima  Eow  was  a  young  Brahman  of  high  family 
who  was  a  student  in  the  then  leading  missionary 
high  school  of  the  city,  quite  a  number  of  the  half- 
caste  pupils  of  which,  about  that  time,  embraced 
Christianity  under  the  very  earnest  and  consecrated 
labours  of  the  missionary  teachers. 

There  had  been  considerable  commotion  when 
each  one  of  the  high-caste  students  had  come  out 

225 


226        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

as  a  Christian,  and  each  time  some  fifty  or  more 
students  of  the  same  caste  as  the  convert  had  left 
the  school  in  a  body  as  a  protest,  but  Bima  Bow 
who  had  determined  to  obtain  the  best  education 
possible,  as  a  means  of  obtaining  high  government 
employment,  and  who  felt  secure  in  his  Brahmanism, 
had  remained  in  the  school  through  it  all,  telling  his 
friends  that  there  was  not  the  slightest  danger  of 
his  being  affected  by  the  Christian  teaching  or  in- 
fluence. 

But,  in  spite  of  himself,  he  had  little  by  little 
become  interested  in  the  Christian  teaching  and 
the  devout  Christian  bearing  of  the  consecrated 
missionary  teachers,  and  before  he  knew  it  both 
his  mind  and  his  heart  were  becoming  imbued 
with  the  teachings  and  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  as 
mirrored  forth  by  the  consecrated  men  under  whom 
he  was  studying  and  the  real  earnest  young  converts 
with  whom  he  was  more  and  more  mingling.  After 
some  months,  he  sought  a  private  interview  with 
the  Christlike  principal  and  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  becoming  a  Christian,  and  asked  that  he 
might  be  baptized. 

Well  knowing  that  his  friends  would  prevent 
this  by  force,  if  they  knew  about  it  beforehand, 
Bima  Bow  gave  them  no  inkling  of  his  change  of 
views,  for  he  was  of  age,  and,  before  they  suspected 
it,  he  had  been  baptized. 


Bima  Row  227 

Immediately  there  was  an  intense  commotion  in 
all  the  Brahniau  quarters  of  the  city  and  a  mob 
of  thousands  of  infuriated  Brahmans  had  assembled 
and  surrounded  the  high  school  and  the  mission- 
aries' house,  and  threatened  to  tear  them  down 
unless  Bima  Eow  were  surrendered  to  them,  de- 
claring at  the  same  time  that  he  was  kept  under 
unlawful  restraint  or  he  would  himself  join  them. 

On  this,  Bima  Eow  himself  appeared  at  a  second 
story  window,  and,  when  they  saw  him,  and  saw 
that  he  desired  to  speak  to  them,  "  there  was  made 
a  great  silence "  as  when  Paul  obtained  leave  to 
speak  to  the  Jews  from  the  stairs  of  the  castle  in 
Jerusalem,  for  they  thought  he  was  going  to  tell 
them  that  he  had  been  inveigled  into  what  he  had 
done,  and  that  with  their  aid  he  would  now  obtain 
his  liberty  and  rejoin  them. 

What  was  their  disappointment  then  when  in  a 
quiet  and  very  manly  way  he  told  them  that  he 
had  become  convinced  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the 
one  and  only  possible  Saviour  of  men  sunken  in 
sin,  and  that  it  had  been  only  at  his  very  urgent 
request  that  the  missionaries  had  baptized  him, 
and  that,  come  what  might,  he  would  never  give 
up  his  faith  in  his  new-found  Saviour,  and  earn- 
estly begged  them  all  to  embrace  the  same  salva- 
tion. 

They,    however,   as  did  the  Jews  with  Stephen, 


228        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

"  gnashed  on  him  with  their  teeth,"  and  deter- 
mined to  work  their  vengeance  upon  him,  as  the 
Jews  did  upon  Stephen,  and  threatened  to  tear  the 
house  down,  if  necessary,  to  gain  possession  of  the 
11  renegade." 

Forty  men  had  taken  up  a  heavy  timber,  which 
chanced  to  be  lying  near,  and  were  in  the  act  of 
rushing  with  it  against  the  strong  door  of  the  front 
hall  of  the  mission  house,  which  had  been  closed 
and  barred  on  the  inside,  as  the  mob  was  seen  ap- 
proaching. Just  then  a  bugle  was  heard  sound- 
ing the  advance  of  a  company  of  British  soldiers, 
on  the  quick  march  across  the  open  parade  ground, 
on  one  side  of  which  was  the  high  school  and  the 
missionaries'  residence,  and  on  the  other  the  fort 
with  its  British  garrison. 

The  principal  of  the  high  school,  fearing  from 
the  high  and  bigotted  connections  of  Bima  Eow, 
that  there  would  be  a  serious  uprising,  had  Chris- 
tians out  watching  in  all  the  Brahman  quarters  of 
the  city.  Becoming  apprized  by  this  means  of  very 
large  mobs  gathering,  he  had  hastened  to  the  city 
authorities,  representing  the  unusual  danger,  and 
calling  for  protection.  The  chief  commissioner  of 
police,  not  daring  to  trust  his  Hindu  force  in  such 
an  emergency,  had  hastened  to  the  fort  and  called 
on  the  military  commandant  for  help.  The  officer 
in  command,  a  Christian  gentleman,  lost  no  time 


Bima  Row  229 

in  ordering  a  company  under  arms  and,  seeing  from 
the  fort  battlements  the  furious  mob  already  as- 
sembling in  thousands,  ordered  the  company  at 
quick  march  to  cross  the  open  parade  ground  to  the 
scene  of  the  disturbance.  There,  forcing  his  own 
way  through  the  mob  to  a  side  door  which  was 
opened  for  him,  he  speedily  appeared  at  the  window 
over  the  front  door  they  had  been  about  to  force, 
and,  silence  being  made,  he  told  the  mob  that  under 
British  rule  freedom  of  conscience  was  guaranteed 
to  every  subject,  and  that  each  one  was  to  be  pro- 
tected in  the  exercise  of  his  right  to  change  his  re- 
ligion ;  that  if  a  Hindu  became  a  Christian  or  a 
Christian  a  Hindu,  or  either  a  Mohammedan,  they 
would  be  equally  protected  in  the  exercise  of  their 
right,  and  that  now  Bima  Row  and  the  mission- 
aries would  be  protected  at  any  cost.  He  at  the 
same  time  warned  the  mob  to  disperse  at  once, 
adding  that  in  ten  minutes  by  the  watch  the  com- 
pany would  be  ordered  to  charge  with  fixed  bayonets 
and  clear  the  streets  on  all  sides  of  the  mission  prem- 
ises, and  that  if  there  were  resistance  they  were 
ordered  to  fire  with  ball  cartridge  ;  that,  moreover, 
a  squad  of  soldiers  would  bivouac  around  the  mis- 
sion house  until  all  disturbance  had  ceased,  and 
that  the  whole  regiment  would  be  kept  in  readi- 
ness in  the  fort  to  march  out  at  a  moment's  notice, 
if  necessary. 


230        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

As  the  watch  showed  that  the  ten  minutes  were 
about  up,  the  soldiers  were  seen  forming  in  line  with 
fixed  bayonets  and  slowly  approaching,  ready  to 
make  the  charge  the  moment  the  order  should  be 
issued.  The  courage  of  the  mob  seemed  to  be  giving 
way  and  first  those  on  the  outside  nearest  the  soldiers 
and  then  the  others  began  slowly  and  with  many 
mutterings  of  future  vengeance  to  slink  away  through 
the  side  streets.  Soon  with  tents  from  the  fort  ap- 
peared a  large  squad  of  soldiers,  bivouacked  on 
all  sides  of  the  mission  premises,  where  they  re- 
mained for  a  week  until  there  were  no  longer  signs 
of  disturbance. 

Two  months  passed  by.  Birna  Eow  had  altered 
his  purpose  of  obtaining  a  high  education  in  order 
to  be  able  to  enter  the  higher  government  service, 
for  the  strong  desire  was  in  him  to  be  fitted  to  be  a 
preacher  to  his  countrymen  of  the  glorious  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ,  which  he  had  made  so  thoroughly  his 
own. 

A  three  days'  recess  in  the  high  school  was  ap- 
proaching, when  one  day,  after  school,  one  of  his 
old  Brahman  cronies  came  up  to  him  in  a  friendly 
way,  saying,  "Bima  Eow,  it's  too  bad  that  you  be- 
came a  Christian  and  deserted  us  all,  but  that  ought 
not  to  break  up  old  friendships.  We  did  act  like 
fools  when  you  were  baptized  and  would  have  killed 
you  if  we  could.  But  that  has  all  passed  by,  and 


Bima  Row  231 

now  let  us  be  friends  again.  Your  mother  wants  to 
see  you  once  more,  and  this  morning  as  I  was  start- 
ing out  for  school  from  our  house  next  door  she 
called  me  and  desired  me  to  ask  you  to  come  home 
and  spend  with  her  the  three  days'  recess  next  week. 
Of  course,  now  that  you  have  broken  caste  and  be- 
come a  Christian,  they  cannot  receive  you  into  the 
inner  family  rooms,  and  you  cannot  eat  with  the 
family,  but  your  mother  promises  herself  to  prepare 
your  food  and  put  it  into  the  little  veranda  room 
where  you  and  I  used  to  play  as  children,  and  to 
spread  a  new  clean  mat  there,  and  you  can  eat  there 
and,  through  the  open  door,  talk  with  the  family 
while  they  and  you  are  eating  out  of  sight  of  each 
other.  You  can  have  that  room  to  sleep  in  at  nights 
and  be  under  the  same  roof  with  the  mother  that 
bore  you,  and  have  a  little  of  the  home  feeling 
again.  Your  mother  told  me  to  tell  you  this,  and  to 
secure  from  you  a  promise  that  you  would  come 
next  Tuesday  after  school  closes  and  spend  the  recess 
with  them.  You  will  come,  will  you  not  ? ' ' 

Overjoyed  at  these  overtures  from  his  mother, 
and  not  suspecting  that  any  evil  could  be  lurking 
therein,  he  gladly  accepted  the  invitation  brought 
by  his  old  chum,  and  the  following  Tuesday  evening 
presented  himself  at  his  father's  house.  He  was  re- 
ceived with  apparent  cordiality,  though  they  did  not 
touch  him  in  order  to  avoid  contamination.  He  was 


232         It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

shown  into  the  little  veranda  room  that  was  to  be  his 
quarters.  When  the  time  for  the  evening  meal  came, 
before  the  others  sat  down  in  the  main  room,  his 
mother  brought  in  his  food  and  placed  it  on  a  leaf 
plate,  Brahman  fashion,  on  the  new  mat,  with  a 
brass  cup  of  water  beside  it,  and  a  small  brass 
vessel  of  curry  to  pour  over  the  rice  as  he  ate  it, 
and  retired,  as  she  must  not  be  in  the  room  while 
he  ate. 

Soon  he  heard  the  subdued  clatter  of  the  men  eat- 
ing in  the  next  room,  the  door  not  being  so  that  he 
could  see  them  or  they  him,  while  he  could  hear  his 
mother's  voice  as  she  was  serving  her  husband  and 
sons.  After  they  had  finished,  he  could  hear  his 
mother  and  sisters  as  they  quietly  took  their  meal 
after  the  men. 

At  bedtime  a  rug  was  furnished  him  and  he  lay 
down  in  the  little  room  and  slept  well,  profoundly 
thankful  that  he  could  have  so  much  of  home  life 
once  more,  if  even  for  only  three  days.  The  next 
day  he  went  to  the  mission  house  and  told  them  how 
glad  he  was  that  his  friends  had  relented  even  so 
much,  and  then  returned  again  with  real  pleasure  to 
his  home-quarters. 

The  mother  brought  his  food  to  him  every  time  be- 
fore she  served  the  others,  and  he  ate  it  with  avidity. 
The  second  and  third  day  he  thought  he  noticed  a 
peculiar  taste  about  it,  but  supposed  it  was  some  new 


Bima  Row  233 

variety  of  aromatic  herb  that  his  mother  had  mixed 
in  the  curry,  and  thought  no  more  about  it.  The 
third  evening,  however,  after  eating,  he  noticed  a 
peculiar  sensation  in  his  head,  and  the  next  morning 
when  he  awoke  he  felt  dazed  and  confused ;  but  he 
rose  and,  after  bidding  them  all  good-bye,  and  thank- 
ing his  mother  for  letting  him  come  home,  he  started 
once  more  for  the  mission  house,  where  he  was  living 
with  the  missionaries. 

He  did  not  find  his  way  there,  and  after  several 
hours  some  of  the  Christian  students  found  him  aim- 
lessly wandering  around  the  bazaars  and  unable 
to  give  any  account  of  himself  and  "out  of  his 
head,"  they  brought  him  to  the  Principal's  house 
adjoining  the  school.  Here  he  was  put  to  bed  and  a 
skilful  doctor  was  sent  for  and  all  was  done  that 
could  be  done,  but  he  never  regained  the  proper  use 
of  his  mind.  He  did  not  become  a  raving  or  violent 
maniac,  but  was  securely  held  with  a  mild  form  of 
insanity,  his  mind  never  again  working  normally. 

He  was  tenderly  cared  for  at  the  mission  house  for 
some  years,  but  failed  utterly,  notwithstanding  the 
most  skilful  medical  treatment,  to  recover  the  use 
of  his  mind,  and  after  some  years  it  was  thought 
better  that  he  should  be  placed  in  the  well-managed 
government  Insane  Asylum,  where  he  could  have 
expert  treatment  all  the  time  and  improve  any  pos- 
sible chance  for  betterment 


234        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

A  score  of  years  passed.  All  the  missionaries 
who  had  formerly  known  him  had  left  the  country, 
and  he  was  now  a  permanent  inmate  of  the  Branch 
Asylum  for  harmless  incurables,  where  he  was  re- 
ceiving the  kindest  possible  treatment  and  care. 
At  times,  he  seemed  to  have  glimmerings  of  re- 
turning intelligence,  and  then  he  was  almost  al- 
ways talking  with  those  about  him  of  the  love  of 
Jesus,  and  what  He  had  done  for  his  soul,  and 
what  He  would  do  hereafter  for  him  when  he 
should  wake  up  well  in  the  heavenly  home.  He 
was  always  kind  and  as  helpful  as  possible  to  all 
about  him,  and  had  won  the  love,  yes,  and  the  re- 
spect, of  everybody. 

This  is  the  account  given  me  by  Dr.  Van  S.,  as 
we  drove  towards  the  Hospital  and  Asylum. 

"But  doctor,"  said  I,  "was  it  ever  ascertained 
what  drug  was  mingled  in  his  food  to  produce  such 
a  result ;  was  no  searching  enquiry  made  ?  " 

"Yes,  indeed,  a  commission  of  expert  European 
doctors  was  appointed  to  endeavour  to  sift  the 
matter,  of  which  I  was  the  junior  member,  and 
we  tried  our  best  to  find  out  what  had  been  used, 
in  the  hope  that  we  could  find  an  antidote,  but  we 
did  not  succeed.  After  long  and  exhaustive  in- 
vestigation, the  commission  was  unanimous  in  the 
conclusion,  not  only  from  the  searching  enquiries 
into  this  case,  but  from  many  other  cases  circum- 


Bima  Row  235 

stantially  reported  to  us  during  our  investigations 
by  other  missionaries,  that  the  witches,  or  those 
that  pass  as  such  in  India,  do  have  knowledge  of, 
and,  on  occasion,  employ  some  drug  or  drugs, 
whether  vegetable  or  mineral  we  could  not  ascer- 
tain, which,  introduced  in  the  food  a  few  times, 
does  unbalance  the  mind,  and  that  often  perma- 
nently, but  does  not  take  away  life,  and  so  does  not 
bring  the  administrators  of  it  under  the  law  for 
homicide  or  murder. 

11  The  commission  found  unimpeachable  evidence 
of  such  cases  in  different  missions  in  India  where 
converts  to  Christianity  had  been  thus  mentally 
wrecked,  their  friends  all  conniving  at  it,  that 
they  might  not  become  preachers  of  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ." 

"We  had  now  drawn  up  at  the  gate  of  the  Leper 
Hospital,  and  after  going  thoroughly  through  that, 
which  was  of  great  interest  to  me,  but  of  which  I 
need  not  here  speak,  we  went  through  the  gateway 
that  led  to  the  Insane  Asylum  in  the  adjoining 
compound. 

As  we  came  along  near  the  end  of  the  long  front 
veranda,  Dr.  Van  S.  pointed  to  a  man  seated  at  a 
potter's  wheel,  near  the  farther  end,  busily  mould- 
ing a  water-pot.  "That,"  said  he,  "is  Bima  Bow. 
"We  have  tried  to  find  something  that  he  can  do  to 
occupy  his  time,  for  he  is  happier  if  engaged  in 


236        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

some  occupation,  and  he  seems  to  like  this  better 
than  anything  else  that  we  have  hit  upon. 

"He  will  sit  there  by  the  hour  turning  the  wheel 
and  putting  upon  it  lumps  of  soft  clay,  which  we 
have  a  native  potter  prepare  just  right,  and  with  his 
fingers  deftly  form  a  nice  water-jar,  as  you  see  him 
doing  now.  He  seems  to  take  a  genuine  pleasure 
in  turning  out  a  fine  article,  and  when  a  number  of 
them  are  completed  the  potter  takes  them  and  burns 
them  in  a  little  kiln  at  the  back  of  the  premises 
and  brings  them  for  his  approval.  They  are  used 
by  all  the  patients,  who  seem  delighted  to  have 
jars  made  by  a  Brahman,  and  they  all  love  and 
revere  him." 

Bima  Row,  whose  hair  had  grown  white  and 
whose  eyes  were  sunken  by  long  years  of  suffer- 
ing, did  not  see  us  as  we  were  approaching,  for  he 
was  seated  with  his  side  towards  us  and  his  back 
towards  the  wall  of  the  veranda,  and  we  had  a  good 
opportunity  to  study  the  situation  and  observe  his 
countenance  as  we  quietly  approached.  Finishing 
the  pot  on  which  he  was  working,  and  placing  his 
creation  with  what  seemed  like  affection  down  by 
his  side,  he  turned  and  looked  up. 

Seeing  a  stranger  approaching  with  his  beloved 
doctor  and  apparently  judging  from  my  garb  that 
I  was  a  missionary,  his  unbalanced  intellect  seemed 
to  wake  up  partially,  but  in  a  crooked  way,  and 


Bima  Row  237 

he  seemed  to  class  me  with  his  persecutors,  for,  look- 
ing at  me  with  the  terrified  glance  of  a  wild  animal 
brought  to  bay,  he,  with  much  agitation,  addressed 
me  :  "  Give  up  Jesus,  did  you  say!  Did  you  tell  me 
that  I  must  give  up  my  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ! 
Never,  never  will  I  give  Him  up.  You  may  kill  me, 
but  I  will  not  give  Him  up,"  and,  looking  up 
towards  heaven,  with  his  hands  clasped,  he  said 
with  intensely  piteous  emotion  :  "  O  Jesus,  Jesus  : 
my  Lord  Jesus,  keep  me,  keep  me  from  ever  say- 
ing a  word  against  Thee,  keep  me  to  the  end,  and 
then  take  me  to  Thee." 

And  with  that,  apparently  exhausted  by  the 
emotion  and  excitement,  he  fell  back  against  the 
veranda  wall  behind  him,  and  a  perfectly  vacant 
look  came  over  him,  replacing  the  alert  one  of  a 
moment  before,  and  nothing  that  I  could  say, 
though  I  tried  my  best  to  assure  him  that  I  did 
not  want  him  to  forsake  Jesus,  but  to  cling  to  Him, 
seemed  to  reach  his  disordered  comprehension.  We 
at  length  turned  to  go  inside,  to  see  the  other 
patients.  After  a  time,  we  came  out  again  to  see 
if  he  had  at  all  recovered,  for  I  did  want  to  ad- 
minister some  consolation  to  the  dear  saint,  but 
no  look  of  intelligence  had  come  into  those  set, 
glaring  eyes,  nor  after  an  hour's  inspection  of 
the  Asylum  when  we  came  out  to  leave,  had  the 
faintest  gleam  of  intelligence  seemed  to  revisit 


238        It  Costs  to  Become  a  Christian 

that  sad  countenance.  He  was  still  leaning  back 
against  the  wall  behind  his  wheel,  and  the  only 
mark  of  life  was  the  regular  heaving  of  his  chest 
as  he  went  on  breathing  heavily,  with  now  and  then 
a  deep  drawn  sigh.  Tears  moistened  our  eyes  as  we 
turned  away. 

Never  shall  I  forget  that  fine  Brahman  countenance, 
with  its  gleam  of  heavenly  light,  as  he  prayed  :  "  O 
Jesus,  Jesus :  keep  me  to  the  end,"  nor  the  sad,  sad 
look  of  vacancy  that  followed  it,  as  for  an  hour  he 
leaned  with  almost  no  sign  of  life  against  the  Asylum 
wall. 

That  countenance  has  remained  pictured  on  my 
mind's  eye  ever  since,  and  I  shall  look  for  and  rec- 
ognize it  up  yonder,  looking  for  it  in  that  "great 
multitude"  of  whom  it  was  told  St.  John,  " These 
are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation  and 
have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb." 

Will  not  every  young  disciple  of  Jesus,  yes,  and 
older  ones,  too,  who  read  this  account  and  who  can- 
not himself,  or  herself,  go  to  the  front  as  a  mis- 
sionary, join  the  growing  band  of  "Covenanted 
Intercessory  Missionaries,"  and,  communicating  with 
some  selected  foreign  missionary  of  his  own  church, 
enter  into  covenant  with  him  and  with  God  to  labour 
daily  in  prayer  for  him  and  his  work,  especially  for 
such  phases  of  it  as  he  shall  report  as  specifically 


Bima  Row  239 

needing  such  help  at  the  time,  and  for  all  such  as 
are  seeking  to  take  Jesus  Christ  as  their  personal 
Saviour  amid  the  opposition  and  persecution  of  their 
friends,  it  may  be  as  intense  as  that  which  was  meted 
out  even  by  his  own  mother  to  poor  Bima  Bowl 


XIV 

ARE  MISSIONS  IN  INDIA  A  «  DISMAL  FAILURE"  : 
INCIDENTS  AT  ONGOLE 

IT  was  in  October,  1863,  that  I  first  visited  the 
town  of  Ongole,  in  the  Telugu  country  of  the 
Madras  Presidency.  It  was  at  the  close  of  my 
long  horseback  preaching  tour  through  the  domin- 
ions of  the  Nizam  of  Hyderabad. 

In  the  course  of  our  return  journey  and  on  the 
third  day  from  Masulipatam  I  came  to  the  town  of 
Ongole,  and  while  the  palanquin-bearers  were  chang- 
ing I  took  my  stand  in  the  main  street,  and  by  sing- 
ing in  a  sonorous  voice  a  Christian's  rallying  song 
to  one  of  the  most  loved  old  Telugu  tunes,  I  had 
gathered  a  fine  audience.  I  then  preached  to  them, 
taking  as  my  theme  "  God  and  Man  and  Sin  and  Sal- 
vation," through  the  God-man  Jesus  Christ,  who 
had  come  down  from  heaven  and  lived  and  suffered 
and  died  for  us  men  and  for  our  salvation. 

The  audience  was  very  attentive,  and  after  giving 
out  a  few  Gospels  and  tracts  I  got  into  my  palanquin 
and  pressed  on  in  my  journey.  While  waiting,  I  had 
enquired  and  could  hear  of  only  two  Christians,  even 
nominal  ones,  in  a  radius  of  sixty  miles  from  Ongole, 
and  on  reaching  the  next  mission  station  I  found  this 

240 


S 


§-s 

I] 


II 


u.  § 
O   £•? 


i- 

O  -^s 


Incidents  at  Ongole  241 

estimate  confirmed.  That  was  in  1863.  Meantime, 
in  1864,  being  on  business  in  Madras,  it  had  been 
my  privilege  to  meet  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Clough  and 
Mrs.  Clough,  on  their  first  landing  as  new  mission- 
aries of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  to 
the  Telugus.  Desiring  to  be  of  some  assistance  to 
them  iii  obtaining  their  needed  supplies,  and  to  see 
them  off  on  their  boat  on  the  back  water  canal  on 
the  first  stage  of  their  journey  up  to  Ongole,  to  which 
they  were  to  go  as  the  first  missionaries  to  that  sta- 
tion, I  was  glad  to  bid  them  Godspeed  to  that 
region,  which  I  had  found  so  neglected  and  yet 
promising. 

In  February,  1873,  on  the  adjournment  of  our 
Telugu  Bible  Eevisiou  Committee  at  Eajamundry,  I 
was  to  journey  down  by  this  same  route  to  Madras. 
The  great  ingathering  in  the  Ongole  region  had 
meantime  taken  place,  or  rather  had  fully  begun, 
and  Dr.  Clough  had  then  gone  home  in  quest  of 
health  and  more  funds.  The  missionary  then  oc- 
cupying that  station  in  his  absence,  Eev.  John 
McLaurin,  had  previously  written  asking  me  to  plan 
to  spend  a  Sunday  with  them  at  Ongole  in  passing, 
and  see  something  of  their  work  and  its  so-far- 
achieved  results,  and  preach  again  in  Ongole,  this 
time  to  Christians.  I  was  very  glad  to  do  so. 

On  reaching  Ongole  on  Saturday,  and  coming  into 
the  mission  compound,  I  was  speedily  aware  of  some 


242      Are  Missions  a  "  Dismal  Failure  " 

special  stir,  for  the  compound  was  dotted  with  tents 
and  leafy  tabernacles,  which,  as  could  be  seen,  were 
filled  with  native  sojourners. 

The  next  morning  I  was  asked  to  conduct  the 
Christian  service  in  the  little  native  church.  This 
was  their  temporary  church,  built  with  dried  clay 
walls  and  thatched  roof.  Its  floor  was  covered  with 
a  split  bamboo-woven  mat,  covering  the  whole  floor, 
and  constituting  the  "pews"  or  seats  for  the  wor- 
shippers. On  entering  it  by  a  side  door,  I  found  it 
already  rapidly  filling.  Against  the  wall  at  the  rear 
end  was  a  row  of  chairs  for  the  missionaries,  and  in 
the  middle  of  it  a  small  stand,  eighteen  inches  square, 
on  which  were  the  Telugu  Bible  and  hymn-book, 
while  an  equal  space  was  left  vacant  at  its  left  side 
for  the  preacher  to  stand  in,  for  space  was  precious. 

Soon  the  congregation  was  seated,  the  first  row, 
reaching  from  wall  to  wall,  were  seated  so  close  to- 
gether that  their  shoulders  and  their  knees,  as  they 
sat  cross-legged  on  the  mat,  touched  each  other. 
The  next  row  sat  so  close  behind  them  that  their 
knees  touched  the  back  of  the  first  row,  and  the 
next  row  similarly,  even  to  the  farthest  wall  and  the 
windows  on  both  sides ;  while  the  doors  at  the  front 
end  and  side  were  filled  with  the  heads  of  those  who 
desired  to  see  and  hear  but  who  could  not  by  any 
crowding  get  inside.  As  I  carefully  looked,  I  could 
not  see  how  even  a  rat  could  crawl  through  the  room, 


Incidents  at  Ongole  243 

so  closely  did  they  sit  and  so  close  were  the  knees 
of  each  row  to  the  backs  of  the  row  in  front  of  them. 
Packed  thus  as  they  were,  more  than  twice  the 
number  were  seated  in  the  little  church  that  could 
be  so  called  if  there  were  the  usual  pews  or  benches. 

I  stood  in  that  small  space  with  my  right  hand  on 
the  Bible  and  preached  on  the  same  theme  that  I  had 
preached  on  less  than  a  decade  before  in  the  street 
of  the  same  town,  not  sixty  rods  from  where  I  now 
stood.  Then  not  one  of  my  hearers  was  a  Christian. 
Now  not  one  of  my  hearers  was  a  heathen,  and  these 
had  come  in  for  this  Sunday  from  ninety  village 
Christian  congregations,  in  which  were  2,185  com- 
municant members  of  those  new  churches,  with 
some  9,000  registered  adherents  now  under  instruc- 
tion for  baptism, — all  of  whom  had  been  gathered 
out  of  rank  heathenism  since  my  previous  visit  to 
Ongole. 

I  had  been  reading,  just  before  coming  there,  some 
of  the  lucubrations  of  certain  critics  of  missions  in 
English  and  American  newspapers  who  claimed  to 
have  been  in  India  and  to  speak  from  personal  ob- 
servation, and  who  declared  in  positive  terms  that 
"Missions  in  India  were  a  dismal  failure." 

As  I  stood  in  that  little  church,  so  packed  with 
earnest  Christians,  the  delegates  of  over  2,000  com- 
municants who  could  not  come  so  far,  and  9,000 
under  instruction  for  baptism,  I  said  in  my  heart, 


244      Are  Missions  a  "  Dismal  Failure  " 

"  If  missions  are  a  failure,  and  this  is  a  sample  of 
such  '  failure,'  God  send  us  many  failures  1 " 

That  was  now  a  little  more  than  thirty  years  ago. 
I  have  just  obtained  the  statistics  of  that  mission's 
work,  covering  only  what  was  the  Ongole  field  in 
1873,  and  find  that  three  decades  after  there  were 
48,411  communicant  church-members,  with  about 
150,000  adherents  under  Christian  instruction ; 
while  meantime  several  thousand  sincere  believers 
have  passed  through  the  gates  into  the  eternal 
mansion  washed  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb! 

This  must  be  another  of  the  " dismal  failures"  of 
missions  in  India,  of  which  we  are  positively  told 
by  "unprejudiced  observers,"  and,  again  all  that  I 
can  say  is,  "God  give  us  such  'dismal  failures'  in 
plentiful  measure  1 " 


XV 

INDIA   HERSELF  AT  WORK:    THE  NATIONAL 
MISSIONARY  SOCIETY  OF  INDIA 

INDIA  is  herself  at  length  waking  up  to  her 
opportunity,  her  duty,  her  privilege.  After 
months  of  careful  investigation,  in  1904-5,  it 
was  found  that  in  the  provinces  of  British  India  and 
in  the  native  states  in  India  there  were  large  regions 
inhabited,  in  the  aggregate,  by  about  one  hundred 
millions  of  people,  in  which  there  was  no  Christian 
missionary  work  going  on,  and,  after  extended  cor- 
respondence with  all  missions  adjacent  it  was  found 
that  there  was  no  hope  of  their  occupying  those 
neglected  areas  within  this  generation. 

It  was  then  that  the  burden  seemed  to  fall  heavily 
upon  the  native  leaders  in  the  different  churches  and 
missions  all  over  India  who  had  put  themselves  in 
communication  and  consultation  with  leading  mis- 
sionaries in  the  different  provinces  and  presidencies, 
and,  in  the  initial  arrangements,  guided  by  the 
sagacious  counsel  of  Mr.  G.  Sherwood  Eddy  of  the 
Indian  National  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  native  leaders  arranged 
late  in  1905  to  call  an  All-India  Conference  to  con- 
sider what  steps  should  be  taken  to  meet  this  state 
of  affairs.  It  was  eventually  decided  to  call  such  a 

245 


246  India  Herself  at  Work 

Conference,  to  be  held  at  Serampore,  the  birthplace 
of  Modern  India  Missions,  on  Christ's  Natal  Day, 
in  1905. 

From  the  Foreword  or  Prospectus  issued  by  them 
the  following  extracts  are  taken,  showing  the  spirit 
and  purpose  of  this  epoch-making  movement,  and 
the  steps  taken  for  its  organization.  I  quote  as 
follows : 

"In  Carey's  historic  library  at  Serampore,  on 
December  25,  1905,  with  delegates  present  from  each 
province  and  portion  of  India,  Burma,  and  Ceylon, 
there  was  organized  '  The  National  Missionary  So- 
ciety of  India.'  Uniting  as  it  does  the  Christians 
of  all  churches  and  of  all  provinces  into  one  great 
society  for  the  evangelization  of  India  and  adjacent 
lands,  its  organization  marks  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  India.  It  is  remarkable  that  just  two  hundred 
years  since  Ziegenbalg  came  to  India  as  the  first 
Protestant  missionary,  exactly  one  hundred  years 
is  it  since  Samuel  Mills  at  Williamstown  with  his 
fellow  students  at  the  'Haystack  Prayer  Meeting' 
began  the  great  missionary  movement  in  America, 
and  precisely  a  hundred  years  now  since  the  saintly 
Henry  Martyn  landed  in  India  and  lived  and 
laboured  in  this  very  spot,  the  Christians  of  India 
have  now  united  in  the  first  national,  indigenous 
missionary  movement  of  its  kind  ever  organized  in 
India.  While  the  sessions  of  the  Conference  were 


National  Missionary  Society  of  India        247 

held  in  the  great  library  where  William  Carey 
laboured,  the  constitution  of  the  new  Society  was 
adopted  in  the  old  pagoda  where  Henry  Martyn 
worked  and  prayed  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
land.  With  Indian  men,  Indian  money,  and  Indian 
management,  the  Society  is  controlled  by  a  Central 
Executive  Committee,  and  a  national  council  with 
representatives  from  each  presidency  and  each  larger 
mission  or  Christian  body  in  a  province ;  and  aided 
by  the  counsel  of  an  Advisory  Board  of  experienced 
missionaries.  Founding  no  new  denomination,  but  pre- 
serving the  strongest  loyalty  to  the  churches ;  soliciting 
no  funds  outside  of  India,  but  laying  the  burden  for 
India's  evangelization  upon  her  own  sons,  we  believe  the 
Society  is  organized  on  a  sound  and  safe  basis.  Only 
after  months  of  careful  planning,  and  after  securing 
the  approval  of  hundreds  of  representative  Indians 
and  European  missionaries  in  every  part  of  the  em- 
pire, has  this  important  step  been  taken. 

"Invitations  had  been  sent  out  to  all  those  who 
had  responded  favourably  to  the  first  proposal,  to 
meet  at  Serampore,  December  24-28,  1905.  The 
place  was  selected  not  only  for  its  historic  mission- 
ary associations,  but  also  as  being  a  quiet  place  for 
prayer  and  undisturbed  thought.  Seventeen  dele- 
gates from  all  the  provinces  of  India  came  together. 
Ceylon  and  Burma  had  their  representatives  too. 
Scores  of  letters  were  received  from  leading  Indian 


248  India  Herself  at  Work 

Christians  all  over  the  country,  expressing  regret  at 
their  inability  to  be  present,  and  wishing  Godspeed 
to  the  movement. 

"On  the  24th  of  December,  the  men  began  to  as- 
semble at  the  old  Serampore  College.  The  gathering 
was  indeed  unique.  The  men  came  from  the  seven 
great  political  divisions  of  India,  and  the  Island  of 
Ceylon,  speaking  eight  different  languages,  and 
representing  five  different  denominations.  The 
Church  of  England  and  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
India  were  the  two  most  strongly  represented.  A 
great  spirit  of  harmony  characterized  the  entire  pro- 
ceedings. We  felt  that  our  common  Lord  was  in  our 
midst,  and  the  unity  that  was  seen  was  but  an  earnest 
of  that  which  we  expect  to  see  in  the  near  future, 
when  the  sons  of  India,  irrespective  of  varying 
languages  and  denominations  and  political  and  social 
traditions,  shall  unite  together  as  members  of  one 
body,  engaged  in  common  warfare  against  the  united 
forces  of  evil  that  now  reign  in  this  land. 

"After  prolonged  and  thorough  consideration  a 
constitution  was  finally  adopted  at  an  evening 
session  at  the  Old  Pagoda,  made  sacred  by  the 
prayers  and  tears  of  the  saintly  Henry  Martyn. 
After  its  adoption,  the  small  company  of  delegates 
committed  the  Society  and  its  rules  to  God,  and  once 
more  dedicated  themselves  to  pray  and  live  for 
India's  regeneration. 


National  Missionary  Society  of  India       249 

"The  gathering  was  unique.  The  Lord  was  there, 
and  in  Him  the  foundation  was  laid  for  an  indigenous 
missionary  movement,  uniting  all  the  Christians  of 
India,  Burma,  and  Ceylon.  In  the  historic  library 
of  William  Carey  the  small  band  joined  hands  be- 
fore separating,  and  sang,  each  in  his  own  language, 
and  all  with  full  thankful  hearts,  the  glorious 
doxology.  Not  a  few  were  affected  as  they  sang  the 
farewell  song.  The  assembly  dispersed  in  silent 
prayer  for  God's  Divine  approval  and  mighty  bless- 
ing on  the  '  National  Missionary  Society  of  India.'  " 
The  first  officers  of  the  movement  were  as  follows  : 
President :  Sir  Harnam  Singh,  K.  C.  I.  E., 

Lucknow. 

Vice-Presidents  :  K.  C.  Banurji,  Esq.,  M.  A.,  B.  L., 
Calcutta ;  Dr.  S.  Satthianadhan,  LL.  D., 
Madras  ;  Rev.  K.  C.  Chatterji,  D.  D.,  North 
India ;  Eev.  S.  V.  Karmarkar,  B.  D.,  Bom- 
bay. 
General  Secretary :  Mr.  V.  S.  Azariah,  Palam- 

cottah,  Madras  Presidency. 

Treasurer  :  Mr.  K.  T.  Paul,  B.  A.,  L.  T.,  Madras. 
The  name  adopted  was  "  The  National  Missionary 
Society  of  India."  The  object  was  declared  to  be 
"to  evangelize  unoccupied  fields  in  India  and  adjacent 
countries :  and  to  lay  on  Indian  Christians  the  burden 
of  responsibility  for  the  evangelization  of  their  own 
country  and  neighbouring  lands." 


250  India  Herself  at  Work 

Its  membership  is  to  consist  of  "all  Indian 
Christians  who  contribute  annually  to  the  support 
of  the  Society  and  agree  to  pray  for  its  work." 

Honourary  members  shall  be  "all  others  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  object  of  the  Society  and  contributing 
to  its  support."  Among  these  may  be  Europeans, 
if  resident  in  India. 

The  Executive  Committee  consists  of  fifteen  mem- 
bers ;  one  from  each  province  and  the  remainder 
residing  near  the  executive  centre,  which  for  the 
present  is  Madras,  the  largest  and  most  advanced 
native  Christian  community  being  in  that  presidency. 

An  Advisory  Board  was  also  appointed,  consisting 
of  ten  of  the  strongest  elder  missionaries  connected 
with  the  different  existing  missionary  organizations 
of  all  parts  of  India. 

Thus  was  launched  what  promises  to  be  one  of  the 
most  important  agencies  of  the  twentieth  century 
working  for  the  conversion  of  India ;  and  for  the 
supplanting  of  its  religions  with  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

Its  Executive  Committee,  consisting  entirely  of 
leading  Indian  Christians,  is  now  maturing  plans  in 
consultation  with  the  Advisory  Board  for  sending 
out  its  first  Indian  Christian  missionaries  into  these 
unoccupied  regions. 

They  are  to  send  native  missionaries  connected 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  unoccupied  re- 


National  Missionary  Society  of  India       251 

gions  adjacent  to  fields  occupied  by  missionaries 
of  one  of  the  Presbyterian  Boards  of  America  or 
Great  Britain  ;  those  connected  with  the  Church 
of  England  to  regions  adjacent  to  Church  of  Eng- 
land missions ;  Methodists  to  regions  adjacent  to 
Methodist  missions ;  and  so  on  of  the  other  exist- 
ing denominational  missions,  that  there  may  be  no 
clashing  of  denominationalism  until  such  time  as 
in  God's  providence  and  by  His  leading  there  may 
be  developed — what  we  are  all  praying  and  work- 
ing for — first  by  organic  union  in  church  families, 
and  then  by  federal  union  of  all,  in  one,  a  strong 
united  "  Church  of  Christ  in  India." 

Such  an  organization  as  this  National  Missionary 
Society  of  India  is  what  some  of  us  have  been  plan- 
ning and  working  and  praying  for  during  close 
upon  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Indeed  at  the  All-India  Decennial  Missionary 
Conference,  held  in  Bombay  in  1892,  the  author, 
in  a  paper  on  the  Native  Church  prepared  by  pre- 
vious appointment  and  presented  at  that  Conference 
and  which  elicited  warm  approval,  said  : 

"Nay  more,  I  would  be  glad  to  see  our  native 
brethren  of  different  missions  join  hands  in  a  work 
exclusively  their  otcn,  and  select  some  field  at  present 
destitute  and  send  their  own  missionaries,  selected 
by  themselves,  supported  by  themselves,  managed 
by  themselves,  without  any  foreign  control  or  inter- 


252  India  Herself  at  Work 

ference.  To  it,  I  would  gladly  contribute  from  my 
own  means,  leaving  its  expenditure  to  such  a 
society,  exclusively  native,  guided,  as  I  feel  cer- 
tain it  would  be,  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  guided 
the  Church  of  Antioch  in  sending  out  Barnabas 
and  Saul." 

Thus  was  presented,  fourteen  years  ago,  practi- 
cally the  very  outlines  of  the  plan  now  adopted 
in  this  new  organization,  for  which  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God  the  time  seems  to  have  now  ripened. 

There  is  said  to  be  a  clever  cartoon,  drawn  by  a 
native  Christian  artist  in  Hindu  style  and  colours, 
now  in  circulation  among  the  churches  in  North- 
ern India,  which  I  have  not  yet  seen,  but  which 
emphasizes  the  propriety  and  advantage  of  the 
native  Church  now  taking  hold  vigorously  of  the 
work  of  self-support,  self-government  and  self-prop- 
agation, too  long  held  in  abeyance. 

The  cartoon  represents  an  old  gentleman  in  Hindu 
garb,  with  white  locks  and  beard,  together  with  a 
stout  walking  stick  in  his  hand,  carrying  a  strap- 
ping youngster,  seated  as  Hindu  fathers  carry  their 
children  on  short  journeys  on  the  father's  shoulders, 
with  one  leg  on  each  side  of  his  neck,  and  with  his 
hands  clasped  over  his  father's  forehead  to  steady 
himself. 

The  burly  youngster  in  the  cartoon,  now  a  man 
grown,  thus  sits  upon  the  shoulders  of  his  verier- 


National  Missionary  Society  of  India       253 

able  father,  while  the  father  is  with  difficulty 
trudging  along  the  rough  road,  thus  carrying  his 
son. 

A  traveller,  who  meets  them,  is  represented  as 
saying  first  to  the  father  : 

"  "Why  are  you  lugging  that  full-grown  youngster  t 
Let  him  walk  himself."  To  which  the  old  man 
replies:  "I  don't  believe  he  can  walk:  he  never 
has." 

The  traveller  then  says  to  the  young  man : 
"  Aren't  you  ashamed  to  make  your  old  father  carry 
you,  when  you  are  fully  able  to  walk  yourself; 
shame  on  you !  " 

To  this  the  young  man  replies  :  "  Do  you  really 
think  I  could  walk  myself?  My  father  has  never 
had  me  try." 

In  a  second  picture,  the  young  man  is  walking 
by  the  side  of  his  father  and  is  saying:  "Why, 
how  nice  this  is !  I  tumbled  down  several  times 
at  first,  but  am  fast  learning  to  go  alone  and  stand 
up  for  myself." 

The  old  man  then  says  :  ' '  He  is  fast  learning 
to  walk  for  himself,  and  now  I  can  give  my  strength 
to  carrying  other  important  burdens  :  why  did  not 
I  try  this  before  !  Both  he  and  I  would  have  been 
better  off.  But,  thank  God,  he  is  going  alone  from 
this  time,  only  I  may  have  to  show  him  a  little 
now  and  then  how  to  get  over  rough  places.  But 


254  India  Herself  at  Work 

he  will  soon  learn  that,  too,  and  we  can  travel 
together  with  real  pleasure  and  profit,  however 
long  and  rough  the  road  may  be." 

Thus  it  may  be  with  the  native  Church  of  India, 
until  it  shall  have  fully  developed  in  self-support, 
self-government  and  self-propagation,  and  shall  have 
brought  into  Christ's  kingdom  all  the  now  unoccu- 
pied fields  of  India. 


XVI 

LOCKING  ARMS  FOR  THE  CONFLICT ;  THE 
UNIFICATION  OF  NATIVE  CHURCHES 

AT  the  great  Ecumenical  Conference  on  Mis- 
sions, held  in  New  York  in  April,  1900,  at 
which,  among  the  thousands  assembled  from 
all  the  world,  were  found  600  missionaries,  coming 
from  every  foreign  missionary  country,  represent- 
ing their  15,464  missionary  brothers  and  sisters  then 
in  the  field,  no  subject  received  more  earnest  and 
prayerful  attention,  from  the  first  meeting  of  Wel- 
come, to  the  final  meeting  of  Farewell,  than  that  of 
Church  Union  and  Cooperation  in  Mission  Fields 
and  the  realizing  of  the  Master's  prayer  that  in  all 
lands  His  disciples  might  be  one. 

It  is  the  subject  of  most  earnest  thought  and  prayer 
now  in  Europe,  in  Asia,  in  Australia,  in  Japan,  in 
the  Pacific  Islands,  in  America.  Happy  those  who 
early  find  the  Master's  own  solution  of  the  problem  ! 

For  the  study  of  this  problem  it  has  providentially 
fallen  to  my  lot  to  visit  the  mission  fields  of  sixty- 
seven  different  missionary  societies,  labouring  in 
more  than  fifty  languages,  in  many  different  and  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  earth,  from  the  "Sunrise "  Kingdom 
of  Japan,  to  the  Eskimos  and  Nascoppies  of  Labra- 

255 


256         Locking  Arms  for  the  Conflict 

dor,  and  to  confer  on  the  spot,  with  the  representa- 
tives of  all  these  different  churches,  on  this  and 
other  vital  themes  pertaining  to  the  furtherance  of 
the  kingdom. 

While  in  some  of  these  fields  I  have  seen  the 
blessedness  of  cordial  cooperation  and  truest  union, 
in  others,  alas!  there  have  been  apparent  the  un- 
speakably saddening  effects  of  unholy  rivalries  and 
interferences  with  one  another's  work.  There  has 
been  great  waste  of  effort,  as  well  as  of  consecrated 
funds,  and  Christ  has  been  again  wounded  by  His 
professed  friends,  and  that  in  the  presence  of  the 
heathen. 

Wherefore  this  waste?  Wherefore  this  wounding 
of  Christ  afresh  ?  How  long  must  it  continue  ?  How 
can  it  be  made  to  cease?  How  can  that  prayer, 
"that  they  may  all  be  one,"  be  realized?  How  can 
these  unholy  rivalries  be  ended,  and  the  Native 
Churches  in  each  land  be  so  unified  that,  as  prayed 
the  Crucified  One,  "  the  world  may  believe  that  Thou 
hast  sent  Me,"  and,  coming,  clasp  those  blessed  feet? 

For  this  "Unification  of  the  Native  Churches"  a 
John  the  Baptist  movement  must  take  place  among 
those  who  have  planted,  and  who  now  hold,  in  per- 
haps too-tightly-drawn  leading  strings,  those  Native 
Churches,  for  no  movement  for  their  unification  can 
avail  until  liberty  of  action  has  been  granted  them 
by  their  controlling  bodies  at  home. 


An   open   roof  of  bamboo  and  thatch,  under  which  a  village  congregation  is 
gathered,  when  first  received  under  Christian  instruction. 


A  building  with  mud  walls  and  thatched  roof,  where  village  congregations 
worship,  when  confirmed  in  the  Christian  faith. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  AN 


A  church  building  of  brick  and  plaster,  with  a  tiled  roof,  such  as  Christian  con- 
gregations in  larger  towns  use  as  their  place  of  worship. 


A  finished  church  ed  fice  used  by  Christian  congregations  in  large  centres. 

INDIAN  CHURCH  BUILDING 


The  Unification  of  Native  Churches      257 

A  drawing  together  of  the  missionary  bodies  that 
have  organized  those  Native  Churches  in.  each  laud 
into  some  form  of  working  union  must  then,  it  seems 
to  me,  be  first  sought,  in  order  to  attain  the  end  we 
have  at  heart,  and  to  the  subject  in  this,  its  twofold 
aspect,  let  us,  for  a  little,  bend  our  earnest  thought. 

In  treating  a  similar  theme,  I  once  made  use  of  an 
illustration  which,  to  my  mind,  so  accurately  sets 
forth  the  true  constitution  and  proper  working  of 
Christ's  Church  militant  in  its  attempt  to  conquer 
the  world  for  King  Immauuel,  that  I  make  no  apology 
for  utilizing  it  now,  in  opening  our  subject. 

Many  years  ago,  in  a  large  military  station  far  in 
the  north  of  India,  I  witnessed  the  prearranged 
maneuvers  of  a  large  body  of  British  troops,  which 
taught  me  a  lesson  I  care  not  to  forget. 

There  was  first  a  review  before  the  commander-in- 
chief,  and  then  they  engaged  in  a  battle  with  an 
imaginary  foe,  in  which  they  traversed  seven  miles 
of  country,  storming  and  capturing  every  fort,  every 
redoubt,  every  line  of  earth-work,  scaling  every 
rocky  hill-top  to  dislodge  the  concealed  foe.  Every 
branch  of  the  service  was  represented  ;  the  infantry  ; 
the  light  and  heavy  artillery  ;  the  cavalry  ;  and  each 
did  its  part. 

By  invitation  I  was  mounted  and  accompanied  the 
advancing  army,  and  witnessed  the  contest  and 
studied  the  scene.  Before  me  filed  the  different 


258         Locking  Arms  for  the  Conflict 

regiments  marching  out  to  the  fray.  Each  regiment 
held  aloft  its  own  regimental  battle-flag,  inscribed 
with  the  names  of  its  historic  conflicts,  such  as 
"Inkerman,  Sebastopol,"  another  "Plassy,  Seringa- 
patam,"  another  "Taku  Forts,  Pekin,"  another 
" Peninsula,  Waterloo,"  another  ''Quebec,  Niagara," 
another  "Delhi,  Cawnpore."  Each  regiment  exulted 
in  its  historic  achievements  thus  blazoned  forth,  but 
over  all  waved  Britain's  grand  old  flag,  that  flutters 
in  the  breeze  on  every  continent,  and  that  called 
forth  the  united  and  intensest  enthusiasm  of  the 
whole  army.  To  all  there  was  but  one  flag,  to  all 
there  was  but  one  object. 

I  turned  to  the  army  list  to  see  what  names  of 
battles  each  regiment  was  permitted,  by  royal  proc- 
lamation, and  as  a  reward  for  special  bravery,  to 
inscribe  on  its  flag,  and,  as  I  looked,  another  fact 
attracted  my  attention.  While  the  uniform  of  all 
was  externally  the  same,  each  regiment  had  its  own 
distinctive  colours  in  the  facings  of  their  coats.  One 
was  buff,  another  orange,  another  green,  another 
pink,  another  crimson.  In  front  of  the  enemy, 
girded  for  war,  there  was  no  visible  distinction. 
At  home,  or  when  no  conflict  impended,  and  they 
were  at  ease,  the  lapels  were  thrown  open  and  one 
could  see  the  distinctive  colours  of  the  different 
regiments. 

Thus  it  is,  said  I,  with  the  Church  of  God,  the  army 


The  Unification  of  Native  Churches     259 

of  our  Immanuel  King.  We  are  divided  into  differ- 
ent regiments  in  our  denominational  distinctions,  and 
each  has  its  distinctive  banner.  The  Presbyterian 
regiment,  or  brigade,  wheels  into  line  bearing  aloft 
its  well-scarred  flag,  on  which  is  inscribed  "  John 
Kuox,"  "The  Covenanters,"  " Westminster."  The 
Episcopalian  waves  the  flag  with  "Wycliffe,"  "Cran- 
nier,"  "  The  Thirty-nine  Articles."  The  Congrega- 
tional regiments  of  England  and  America  come  on 
with  "Freedom  of  Worship,"  "Mayflower,"  "Ply- 
mouth Eock."  The  Wesleyan  and  Episcopal  Meth- 
odists swing  out  "John  Wesley,"  and  "Impetuous 
Fire."  The  Lutherans  follow  with  "Luther," 
"  Wirtemberg,"  "Worms."  The  Eeformed  Church 
of  the  Netherlands  and  America  rejoices  to  swing  to 
the  breeze  "Heidelberg,"  "Dort,"  "The  Thirty 
Years'  War  for  religious  freedom." 

We  each  rejoice  in  our  distinctive  regimental 
flags.  Yet  we  constitute  but  the  One  Army  of  The 
Living  God ;  and  above  us  all  waves  the  One  Flag 
that  calls  forth  our  highest  enthusiasm,  our  intensest 
fealty  and  love.  It  is  the  blood-red  Cross  of  Cavalry, 
on  the  white  ground- work  of  Christ's  Righteousness, 
with  the  dove,  the  Holy  Ghost,  bearing  the  olive 
branch  of  "Peace  on  Earth,  Good- Will  to  Men"  ; 
and  the  standard  that  holds  it  aloft  is  the  Love  of  the 
Divine  Father  who  "so  Loved  the  World." 

Each  regiment  has  its  different  facings.     With  one 


260         Locking  Arms  for  the  Conflict 

it  is  Calvinistic  blue,  light  or  dark.  With  another 
it  is  Arminian ;  with  one  Liturgical ;  with  another 
Impromptu  Worship ;  with  another  Prelatical ; 
with  another  Independent.  But,  when  we  face 
the  enemy,  let  them  see  but  one  uniform,  for  are  we 
not  the  one  body  of  Christ?  Our  Armament  is 
one ;  for  we  should  each  buckle  on  "  the  whole  armour 
of  God." 

But  the  artillery  particularly  attracted  my  atten- 
tion that  day  ;  for  there  was  every  style  of  artillery, 
such  as  India  almost  alone  can  furnish,  and  the  coun- 
try over  which  they  fought  was  diversified  with  plain 
and  high  rocky  hill,  with  open  field  and  jungle,  and 
there  were  imaginary  fortresses  to  be  besieged  and 
ambuscades  to  be  riddled  out. 

On  came  the  Royal  Artillery,  with  plumes  erect, 
and  vestments  rare  : — "The  Church  of  England  and 
American  Episcopacy,"  said  I.  Then  came  the 
light  horse  artillery,  with  light  guns,  ready  to  dash 
anywhere ;  to  climb  the  hills  and  pour  in  hot  shot 
into  the  retreating  foe;  not  hampered  with  heavy 
baggage,  active,  alert; — "The  Congregationalists," 
quoth  I.  The  heavy  horse  artillery  followed,  with 
steady  tread; — "The  Presbyterians,"  I  thought. 
Then  there  was  the  buffalo  artillery,  drawn  by 
the  finest  draft-animals  in  Central  India,  for  going 
through  tough  and  miry  places,  doing  magnificent 
work,  but  with  an  irresistible  tendency  to  take  to  the 


The  Unification  of  Native  Churches      261 

water ; —  "  Our  Baptist  Friends, ' '  I  ween.  Then  came 
the  elephants,  with  steady  step,  dragging  up  the 
heavy  siege-guns ; — This  is  the  proverbially  slow  and 
stately  steppings  of  "the  Eeformed  Church  of  the 
Netherlands  and  America,"  drawing  into  line  "the 
Canons  of  Dort,"  I  thought.  Then  there  were  the 
cavalry :  scouring  the  country  in  advance ;  looking 
out  every  foe  ;  dashing  with  impetuosity  at  every 
enemy ;  sometimes  falling,  but  to  rise  again ;  some- 
times coming  in  others'  way  and  anon  spying  out  and 
scattering  a  concealed  foe.  Yes,  said  I,  God  bless  the 
"  American  Methodist  Circuit-Eider."  The  army  of 
God  in  new  and  untried  regions  would  fare  less  well 
without  him.  Yes,  we  are  but  different  branches  of 
the  same  royal  service,  all  working  for  the  one  end, 
and  with  the  one  flag  waving  over  us. 

Another  thing  I  noticed  as  I  studied  the  British 
army  list.  The  place  where  each  regiment  origi- 
nated, and  the  date  were  given.  There  were  the 
Essex  Light  Infantry;  The  Monmouthshire  Foot; 
The  Eoyal  Scots  Fusileers;  and  Native  Eegiments, 
one  raised  at  Madura,  in  1771 ;  one  at  Ellore,  in  1778 ; 
one  at  Madras,  in  1765  ;  but  they  were  all  under  one 
commander- in-chief — all  fighting  for  the  one  beloved 
sovereign. 

Thus  it  is  with  the  Army  of  the  Living  God  on 
mission  fields.  The  Lutheran  Brigade  points  to  its 
enlistment  by  the  Monk  of  Erfurt,  in  1522 ;  the  Pres- 


262         Locking  Arms  for  the  Conflict 

byterian  points  to  Scotland  and  John  Knox  for  ita 
enrollment ;  we  have,  in  the  Indian  Missionary  Army, 
regiments  raised  in  the  United  States,  Canada,  Den- 
mark, Germany,  France,  Switzerland,  and  Australia, 
as  well  as  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Wales. 
We  are  all  under  one  Commander-in-chief,  one  King 
Jesus.  To  all  there  is  the  same  ' '  Manual  of  War  " — 
the  Living  Word  of  God. 

Ay,  we  of  the  different  denominations  each  have 
our  distinct  regimental  organizations,  and,  for  ef- 
ficiency, well  we  may.  But  we  must  never  forget, 
nor  fail  to  recognize  the  fact,  that  we  are  but  the  One 
Grand  Army  of  the  Living  God,  and  we  must  so  or- 
ganize these  denominational  regiments  into  brigades, 
and  then  into  army  corps,  and  so  order  and  control 
them,  that  we  may  never  be  guilty  of  the  awful  mis- 
take of  turning  our  suicidal  guns  upon  one  another, 
instead  of  on  our  common  enemy. 

There  were  in  1902  labouring  in  India  more  than 
sixty  different  missionary  societies,  connected  with 
more  than  thirty-five  separate  church  organizations, 
representing  distinct  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  the  Home 
Lands.  Each  has,  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent,  trans- 
ported to,  and  transplanted  in,  this  tropical  land  its 
distinct  and  somewhat  divergent  organizations  and 
church  peculiarities,  and  all  are  separate  and  unre- 
lated. Can  any  one  for  a  moment  imagine  that  the 
triumphing  Church  of  Christ  in  the  India  of  the  future, 


The  Unification  of  Native  Churches      263 

as  it  inarches  on  to  victory,  will  consist  thus  of  thirty- 
five  disjointed,  unconnected  squads  of  soldiers? 

The  time  may  not  yet  have  come  to  form,  from  all 
these  divergent  elements,  one  grand  National  Church 
of  India.  All  could  not  at  present  be  Episcopalians, 
Presbyterians,  Lutherans,  Baptists,  Methodists,  or 
Independents.  Mental  organizations  differ.  Things 
appear  differently,  and  with  different  spectacles  men 
read  and  interpret  variously  the  Apostolic  records, 
as  to  church  polity,  organization,  and  doctrine. 
While  this  is  so,  I  would  not  have  a  forced  organic 
union  of  these  different  bodies. 

I  would  not,  if  I  could,  attempt  instantly  to  form 
a  mongrel  Episco-Presby-gatlonal-Bapto-Methodist 
Church,  a  conglomerate  of  particles  that  would  not 
mix  or  assimilate.  Yet  I  hold,  and  have  long  held, 
that  there  is  a  way  of  forming,  in  this  day,  a  true 
working  union. 

So  long  ago  as  1884,  at  the  Pan-Presbyterian  Coun- 
cil in  Belfast,  I  voiced  this  conviction  in  the  follow- 
ing words  : — "  Our  aim  is  that  in  each  mission  field 
all  of  the  churches  of  the  same  faith  and  polity  shall 
first  organically  unite,  forming,  say,  in  India,  one 
Presbyterian  Church,  one  Methodist,  one  Baptist, 
one  Lutheran,  one  Episcopalian,  one  Congregational, 
and  then,  out  of  all  these  form  a  '  Federal  Union 7 
with  periodical  councils  that  shall  work  in  increasing 
harmony,  until  at  length  in  God's  good  time,  led  by  our 


264         Locking  Arms  for  the  Conflict 

one  Master,  we  may  be  able,  in  the  pre-millennial  fu- 
ture, all  to  unite,  and  have  one  self-governing,  self-sup- 
porting, self -propagating  '  National  Church  of  Christ  in 
IndiaJ  as  prayed  our  glorious  leader — that  they  may 
all  be  one,  that  the  world  may  believe  that  Thou  hast 
sent  Me."  Thus  I  spoke  in  1884. 

For  such  a  movement  I  believe  the  time  is  now 
ripe,  and  that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  now  thereto  call- 
ing. Blessed  shall  we  be,  if  we  listen  to  that  call. 

There  were  in  India,  in  1901  for  instance,  thirteen 
separate  and  distinct  organizations  of  those  properly 
belonging  to  the  Presbyterian  family ;  there  were 
seven,  or  more,  of  the  Baptist  family ;  seven  of  the 
Lutheran,  and  so  on  of  the  other  church  families. 
Why  cannot  these  unrelated  Presbyterian  regiments  be 
united  into  one  well-organized  brigade  I  These  seven 
Lutherans  into  another,  and  so  of  the  others,  and 
thus  there  be  formed,  of  the  sixty  separate  organiza- 
tions now  dallying  with  missions  in  India,  six  or  eight 
compact  brigades;  and  then,  with  a  working  "Federal 
Council"  of  all  these,  advisorily  guiding  the  move- 
ments of  all  as  one  army,  with  steady  tread,  and 
trebled  force,  hasten  the  conquest  of  India  for  our 
Lord  by  at  least  a  generation  ? 

Such  union  is  feasible.  It  is  practicable.  It  has 
been  proved  so.  While  we,  in  India,  have  been 
talking  about  it,  and,  with  many  hindrances  work- 
ing for  it,  some  of  us  for  a  full  quarter  of  a  century, 


The  Unification  of  Native  Churches     265 

in  Japau  such  a  movement  for  organic  union  has 
met  with  a  grand  success  in  some  of  the  church 
families,  and  is  now  being  pushed  in  others ;  while  a 
preliminary  kind  of  federal  union  among  all  is  in 
process  of  formation  in  that  land. 

All  the  members  of  the  Presbyterian  family  in  that 
Empire,  English,  Irish,  Scotch,  American  North  and 
South,  and  Canadian,  long  since  formed  one  "Church 
of  Christ  in  Japan,"  Presbyterian  in  organization, 
and  such  union,  after  a  test  of  nearly  two  decades,  has 
been  found  to  strengthen  the  work  of  those  missions 
mightily. 

So  of  the  Episcopal  family  in  Japan :  for  we  are 
told  that  of  the  missionaries  and  churches  of  the 
Church  of  England,  the  American  Episcopal  Church, 
and  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church,  has  been  formed 
one  Episcopal  Church  of  Christ  in  Japan,  which  is 
harmoniously  battling  for  the  kingdom. 

The  six  branches  of  the  Methodist  Church  in 
Japan,  with  different  polity,  after  ten  years'  effort  to 
find  a  platform  on  which  all  could  stand,  in  the  year 
1901  succeeded  in  unanimously  adopting  a  basis  of 
union,  and,  with  the  permission  of  their  home 
authorities,  they  hope  speedily  to  consummate  the 
formation  of  one  Methodist  Church  of  Christ  in 
Japan. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  present  century,  representa- 
tives of  the  Presbyterian  family,  American  and 


266         Locking  Arms  for  the  Conflict 

European,  of  the  Episcopal  family,  English  and 
American,  of  the  Baptist  family,  European  and 
American,  of  the  Congregational  family,  and  others, 
have  met  and  adopted,  provisionally,  a  "  constitu- 
tion of  the  standing  committee  of  Cooperating  Chris- 
tian Missions  in  Japan,"  for  a  combined  forward 
federal  movement  on  the  part  of  all  Evangelical 
Missions  in  that  empire,  which  now  awaits  final 
adoption. 

The  movement  towards  real  unity  in  Japan  has 
however  already  made  such  progress  that  Bishop 
Tyson,  the  English  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of 
Hakodate,  of  the  now  united  Episcopal  Church  of 
Japan,  writes:  "You  will,  I  am  sure,  be  glad  to 
hear  that  we  have  agreed  here  to  one  practical  step 
(towards  unity),  viz. — a  periodical  exchange  of  pul- 
pits between  the  churches  in  this  town  (Hakodate), 
Presbyterian,  Methodist,  and  Episcopal." 

In  North  China  the  representatives  of  three  great 
missions,  the  American  Board  (Congregational),  the 
Presbyterian  Board,  and  the  London  Mission  (Eng- 
lish Independent)  are  engaged  in  perfecting  a  most 
important  scheme  of  cooperation,  in  which  it  is  hoped 
others  will  join.  In  South  China,  all  of  the  Presby- 
terian family  in  the  Amoy  and  Swatow  districts 
founded,  some  years  since,  a  united  Church  of  Christ, 
Presbyterian  in  polity,  not  connected,  ecclesiastically, 
with  any  home  Church,  and  possibly  this  body  may 


The  Unification  of  Native  Churches     267 

prove  the  nucleus  of  an  indigenous  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Christ  for  all  China. 

In  Italy,  we  are  told,  representatives  have  met 
from  the  Waldeusiau  Church ;  the  Evangelical 
Church  of  Italy  (formerly  the  free  Italian  Church)  ; 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ;  the  Baptist  Mis- 
sion, American  ;  the  Baptist  Mission,  English  ;  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  ;  the  National 
Bible  Society  of  Scotland ;  the  Society  for  the 
Publication  of  Evangelical  Works,  in  Italy,  and  the 
National  Sunday-School  Committee,  and  formed  a 
permanent  organization  under  the  name  of  "The 
Evangelical  Council  of  Italy."  The  headquarters 
are  to  be  in  Eome.  The  various  denominations  are, 
it  is  stated,  to  partition  out  the  field  anew,  to  prevent 
overlapping.  They  will  unite  in  the  work  of  pre- 
paring a  common  catechism,  hymn-book,  etc.,  and 
join  in  the  support  of  certain  religious  journals. 
Their  aim  is  that  in  Italy  Evangelical  Christianity 
shall  show  something  of  the  solidarity  shown  by  the 
Papacy.  May  it  be  accomplished  ! 

The  most  encouraging,  and  farthest  reaching  union 
movement  of  all  is  that  that  has  taken  place  in  the 
newest  of  the  mission  fields, — the  Philippine  Islands. 

In  1901,  representatives  of  all  the  Evangelical 
Churches  at  work  in  those  Islands,  with  Bishop 
Warne,  Methodist  Episcopal  of  Calcutta,  and  Eev. 
Dr.  J.  C.  E.  Ewing,  American  Presbyterian  of 


268         Locking  Arms  for  the  Conflict 

North  India,  who  were  in  the  Philippines  to  help  to 
lay  the  foundations  in  those  new  fields,  met  in  con- 
ference in  Manila.  After  maturede  liberation,  and 
thorough  consideration  of  all  the  problems  involved, 
they  with  absolute  unanimity  united  in  establishing 
"  The  Evangelical  Union  of  The  Philippines." 

The  constitution  and  by-laws  unanimously  adopted 
were  brief  and  unique,  with  an  executive  committee, 
having  on  it  a  representative  of  each  mission,  to 
carry  out  their  provisions.  All  the  missionaries  of 
the  various  missionary  boards  or  societies  working  in 
the  Philippines  are  members  of  the  organization, 
and  all  meet,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the  Annual  Con- 
vention. 

The  churches  established  by  the  different  evan- 
gelical bodies  at  work  in  the  Islands  are  all  called  by 
one  name,  "  Iglesia  Evangelica,"  and,  when  necessary 
for  distinctiveness,  the  name  of  the  body  establishing 
them  is  added  in  parentheses,  as  "  Iglesia  Evangelica 
(Methodista),"  "Iglesia  Evangelica  (Baptista)," 
"  Iglesia  Evangelica  (Presbyterian),"  etc. 

Each  Church  represented  has  been  made  respon- 
sible for  the  evangelization  of  certain  provinces,  into 
which  other  bodies  do  not  enter,  the  fields  of  each 
being  arranged  with  a  view  to  languages,  as  well  as 
to  geographical  compactness.  The  secretary  writes 
me,  after  a  year's  trial,  that  all  the  missions  have 
settled  down  into  their  readjusted  boundaries  most 


The  Unification  of  Native  Churches      269 

loyally,  and  are  working  in  perfect  harmony.  He 
adds,  "  Our  annual  convention,  just  closed,  has  been 
a  distinct  step  in  advance,  and  I  think  we  shall  ac- 
complish more  this  year  than  last  in  working  out 
our  plans." 

These  successful  movements  towards  more  real 
union  in  other  mission  fields  ;  this  spirit  of  comity 
and  unity  that  is  evidently  uin  the  air"  in  every 
Christian  land,  nay  more,  the  movement  of  the 
spirit  of  God  among  His  people,  as  I  verily  believe, 
is  now  clearing  the  way  also  in  India. 

In  1900,  each  of  the  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
family  working  in  the  Madras  Presidency  appointed 
delegates  to  constitute  a  joint  committee  that  should 
formulate  a  basis  on  which  they  could  all  unite  as 
one  Church. 

A  confession  of  faith,  simple,  irenic,  avoiding  old 
polemic  phraseology,  so  far  as  possible  biblical  in 
its  language,  was  adopted,  with  a  constitution  and 
canons  simple,  workable,  adapted  to  India,  on  which 
all  parties  could  heartily  agree. 

After  favouring  action  from  the  home  authorities, 
representatives  of  the  different  bodies  met  in  Vellore, 
in  the  oldest  Church  of  the  Arcot  Mission,  in 
October,  1901,  and  constituted  "The  Synod  of  the 
South  Indian  United  Church,"  of  which  the  writer 
was  elected  moderator. 

While  the  missions,  as  missions,  are  to  be  still 


270         Locking  Arms  for  the  Conflict 

under  the  control  and  guidance  of  the  home  organiza- 
tions that  support  them,  the  churches  planted  in 
this  land  by  those  missions  are  freed  ecclesiastically 
from  all  control  by  the  Home  Synods  and  Assem- 
blies, forming  one  indigenous  church  that,  it  is 
hoped,  will  be  not  only  self-governing,  but  self-sup- 
porting and  self-propagating,  that  shall  be  free  to 
affiliate  and  unite  with  other  similarly  freed 
churches,  as  God  by  His  providence  shall  lead. 
This  union  in  the  Presbyterian  family  of  South 
India  may  be  regarded  as  an  accomplished  fact, 
and  it  is  of  no  little  import  to  those  of  the  Presby- 
terian cult. 

Stimulated  by  the  successful  drawing  together  of 
the  Presbyterian  family  in  the  Madras  Presidency, 
those  of  that  family  in  North  and  Central  India  held 
a  Conference  in  February,  1901,  and  arranged  for  a 
committee  to  prepare  the  way,  and  for  a  meeting  at 
Allahabad  in  December,  1901,  of  the  thirteen  differ- 
ent and  independent  church  organizations  in  all 
India,  south,  west,  north,  and  east,  holding  the  He- 
formed  faith  with  the  Presbyterian  polity,  to  take 
steps  towards  the  formation  of  one  church.  These 
thirteen  bodies  are  not  all  Presbyterian  in  name, 
but  include  those  as  divergent  in  name  as  The  Re- 
formed (Dutch)  Church  of  America,  the  Welsh 
Calvinistic  Methodists,  the  German  Evangelical  Mis- 
sion from  America,  and  the  Original  Secession 


The  Unification  of  Native  Churches     271 

Church  of  Scotland.  In  that  Conference  the  new 
11  Synod  of  South  India  "  bore  its  part. 

After  mature  deliberation  the  confession  of  faith, 
constitution  and  canons  already  adopted  by  the 
New  Synod  of  South  India,  were,  with  some  small 
modifications,  adopted  for  the  Church  of  all  India 
and  referred  to  their  presbyteries  in  India  and  to 
their  home  authorities  for  ratification.  The  neces- 
sary formalities  having  been  complied  with,  in 
December,  1904,  the  first  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  India  was  constituted. 

The  name  provisionally  adopted  was  "  The  Church 
of  Christ  in  India  (Presbyterian)."  The  hope  was 
entertained  that  this  union  might  stimulate,  invite, 
and  pray  for,  similar  formations  of  "  The  Church 
of  Christ  in  India  (Methodist),"  "The  Church  of 
Christ  in  India  (Lutheran),"  "  The  Church  of  Christ 
in  India  (Baptist),"  etc.,  and  that,  as  these  various 
United  Churches  drew  nearer  to  Christ  and  began 
to  know  Him  better,  they  should  draw  nearer  to 
one  another  and  be  more  alike,  until,  at  length,  in 
God's  good  time,  led  by  our  one  Master,  we  should 
be  able  in  the  pre-millennial  future,  all  to  unite, 
and  have  the  one  self-governing,  self-supporting, 
self-propagating  "  Church  of  Christ  in  India,"  the 
denominational  names  dropping  off,  as  does  the 
caudal  appendage  of  the  tadpole,  as  it  emerges  into 
its  higher  stage  of  existence. 


272         Locking  Arms  for  the  Conflict 

Nor  is  this  all  a  quixotic  dream.  The  Presby- 
terians in  Australia,  "  Established,"  "Free," 
"United,"  several  years  since  all  formed  one 
Presbyterian  Church  and,  when  I  was  there  in 
1881,  spoke  rejoicingly  of  their  greatly  increased 
strength  and  efficiency.  So  did  the  Presbyterians 
in  Canada.  So  did  the  Methodists  in  Canada,  and 
a  wider  union  there  "  is  in  the  air." 

So  are  now  in  process  of  uniting  the  six  Methodist 
Churches  in  Japan,  though  of  different  ecclesiastical 
polity  : — "  The  Methodist  Episcopal  of  America 
(North),"  "The  Protestant  Methodist,"  non-epis- 
copal, " The  United  Brethren,"  "The  Evangelical 
Methodist,"  "The  Canada  Methodist,"  and  "The 
Methodist  Episcopal  American  (South)." 

Facing  the  enemy,  and  in  the  strenuousness  of  the 
conflict,  each  has  made  concessions  and  a  united 
polity,  and  a  strong  united  church,  will,  it  is  hoped, 
be  the  outcome. 

Why  cannot  this  be  done  in  India,  in  the  different 
church  families,  none  of  whom  have  more  difficult 
problems  to  surmount  than  had  these  six  Methodist 
Churches  in  Japan,  and  why  cannot  a  movement 
looking  towards  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  re- 
sult be  begun  in  each  church  family?  I  verily 
believe  that  God  is  summoning  us  to  this  step. 

The  movement  in  the  Presbyterian  family  in 
India,  is  already  having  its.  influence  upon  other 


The  Unification  of  Native  Churches      273 

churches  in  India  :  The  Punjab  and  Sindh  Church 
Missionary  Society  Conference,  assembled  in  Lahore 
in  January,  1902,  by  acclamation  adopted  the  follow- 
ing resolution  : — 

"  This  Conference  rejoices  heartily  at  the  successful 
issue  of  the  Conference  of  thirteen  Presbyterian 
bodies  which  met  last  mouth  to  form  one  Presby- 
terian Church  for  the  whole  of  India.  It  earnestly 
trusts  that  this  achievement  marks  but  the  beginning 
of  still  wider  movements  towards  union,  and  pledges 
itself  to  use  every  means,  both  by  prayer  and  by 
effort,  to  bring  about  closer  relations  between  the 
various  branches  of  the  Church  of  Christ." 

Already,  in  another  church  family  in  India, 
English,  American,  and  Australian,  have  delegates 
to  a  joint  committee  been  appointed  to  see  if  a 
way  may  not  be  found  to  follow,  in  their  denomi- 
nation, the  lead  of  the  Presbyterian  family.  Other 
such  movements  are  bound  to  come.  Alas,  for  those 
that  hinder  them. 

A  federal  union  in  each  province  need  not  how- 
ever necessarily  be  deferred  until  all  the  families 
have  formed  such  a  corporate  union.  Such  an 
Evangelical  Union  in  each  province  would  speedily 
lead  to  an  "  Evangelical  Union  of  India,"  and  the 
battle  would  then  be  half  won. 

The  South  India  Missionary  Association  of  the 
Madras  Presidency,  made  up  of  all  the  missions  in 


274         Locking  Arms  for  the  Conflict 

the  Presidency,  is  a  real  beginning  on  one  line  of 
such  an  "  Evangelical  Union."  But  one  more  far- 
reaching  is  needed.  When  that  comes,  and  we 
the  representatives  of  the  Home  Churches  our- 
selves draw  together  and  let  down  the  bars  for  our 
Indian  brethren  the  "  Unification  of  the  Native 
Churches"  will  be  easy  of  accomplishment,  for, 
essential  as  seem  to  us  some  of  our  church  differ- 
ences, the  growing  Indian  Churches  see  no  such 
necessity  for  many  of  those  differences,  and  are, 
I  believe,  far  more  ready  to  unify  than  we,  the 
leaders,  are  to  have  them. 

Dr.  Alexander,  of  Japan,  writes  :  "A  Japanese 
minister  of  fine  Christian  spirit,  and  well  disposed 
towards  missionaries,  said  not  long  ago:  "The 
thing  that  impresses  the  Japanese  is  not  the  truth 
of  the  oneness  of  the  Church  as  taught  in  the  New 
Testament,  but  the  divisions  in  the  Church,  which 
appeal  to  them  as  facts." 

And  yet  we  all  pray  the  Saviour's  prayer  for 
oneness !  If  we  will  each  take  hold  and  work  for 
it,  as  well  as  pray,  the  Saviour's  prayer  will  be 
promptly  realized,  and  that  unification,  that  one- 
ness, will  be  a  fact  accomplished.  May  God  hasten 
it  in  our  day ! 


XVII 

THE  PRESENT  OUTLOOK  IN  INDIA  : 
NON-MISSIONARY  TESTIMONY 

"  IT  "IT  T  HAT  in  your  view  are  the  prospects  of 
%/%/  missionary  work  now  in  India ?  From 
your  nearly  half-a-century  of  labour 
and  observation  there  do  you  think  the  work  is 
proceeding  as  well  as  could  be  expected  f  Do  you 
anticipate  that  the  present  large  percentage  of  in- 
crease of  Christians,  as  compared  with  the  other 
religions  of  India,  will  be  maintained!" 

Thus,  in  effect,  wrote  me,  not  long  ago,  a  dis- 
tinguished divine,  a  pastor  in  the  home  land  for 
many  years  of  a  church  which  has  been  and  is  sup- 
porting three  missionaries  in  India. 

Let  us  see  for  a  moment  what  that  "  present  per- 
centage of  increase"  would  really  mean. 

A  qualified  statistician  in  India,  in  going  over  the 
recent  government  census  of  all  India,  and  com- 
pariDg  the  percentage  of  increase  of  Christians  with 
that  of  the  other  religions  of  India  for  the  last  decade, 
and  the  preceding  four  decades,  gave  it  as  his  delib- 
erate opinion  that  if  the  same  ratio  of  increase  con- 
tinued: "  All  India  would  become  Christian  within 

275 


276         The  Present  Outlook  in  India 

one  hundred  and  thirty  years."  He  said  there  was 
no  escape  from  that  conclusion. 

Other  independent  observers  take  a  still  more 
favourable  view.  That  well-informed  and  impartial 
journal,  The  New  York  Independent,  in  an  editorial 
in  November,  1906,  after  a  careful  review  of  the 
present  situation  in  India  as  revealed  by  the  census, 
says :  ' ( The  number  of  converts  to  Christianity  is 
almost  doubling  every  ten  years.  At  the  present 
rate,  in  fifty  years  Christianity  is  likely  to  be  the 
predominant  religion,  and  Paganism  will  have  lost 
its  power." 

But  to  the  last  question  of  my  interrogator,  as  given 
above,  I  gave  quite  a  different  reply.  I  wrote  ''em- 
phatically no !  I  do  not  anticipate  that  the  present 
large  rate  of  increase  will  continue ;  I  look  forward 
to  a  very  different  rate."  Let  me  illustrate : 

The  early  settlers  in  the  heavily-wooded  tracts  of 
Ohio,  as  I  heard  when  a  boy  from  the  lips  of  the 
then  patriarchal  survivors,  the  first  year  staked  out 
their  claims  and  chopped  down  the  forests  where 
they  wished  to  cultivate,  the  huge  oaks,  the  mam- 
moth black  walnuts,  the  maples  and  the  beeches,  and 
the  host  of  the  smaller  trees,  and,  so  far  as  they 
possibly  could,  heaped  and  burned  up  the  logs,  and 
grubbed  up  the  smaller  stumps  and  laboriously,  with 
their  patient  oxen,  plowed  between  the  larger  stumps, 
digging  closer  to  them  with  spade  and  mattock,  and 


Non-Missionary  Testimony  277 

sowed  seed-wheat  wherever  they  had  been  able  thus 
to  turn  the  sod,  and  were  grateful  for  the  harvest 
they  were  able  to  secure,  though  small. 

The  next  year  they  were  able  to  dig  out  and  pull 
up  more  of  the  smaller  stumps  and  to  burn  to  the 
roots  some  of  the  larger  oak  and  black  walnut  stumps 
which  had  become  very  dry,  and  also  put  in  more 
square  yards  of  sowing,  and  reaped  a  considerably 
larger  harvest,  for  which  they  were  profoundly  thank- 
ful. So  year  by  year,  for  some  seasons,  the  harvest 
increased,  until  at  length  the  huge  stumps  had  rotted 
so  that,  with  a  supreme  effort,  and  with  blasting,  and 
uprooting  derricks,  the  fields  were  entirely  cleared 
and  the  improved  horse-plows  ran  smoothly  through 
and  upturned  the  deeper  soil,  and  heavy  crops  began 
to  appear,  and  it  became  difficult  to  find  reapers 
enough  for  the  ripening  grain. 

Gang  plows,  with  commercial  fertilizers,  and  seed- 
drilling  cultivators,  and  four-horse  reapers  and  bind- 
ers followed  on,  until,  by  leaps  and  bounds,  all 
previous  records  were  left  far  in  the  rear,  and  the 
now  astounding  harvests  blessed  the  long  and  pa- 
tiently toiling  farmers. 

Thus  it  is  going  to  be  with  the  sowing  and  harvest 
of  "the  seed  of  the  Kingdom  "  in  India. 

The  giant  oaks  of  Hinduism,  the  absolute  belief  of 
all  the  people  in  their  ancient  systems,  have  been 
felled.  Year  by  year  Gospel-seed  has  been  sowed 


278         The  Present  Outlook  in  India 

and  carefully  tended  in  whatever  fallow  ground 
could  be  found  or  made.  That  seed  has  germinated 
and  borne  some  fruitage,  for  which  we  missionaries 
have  been  as  thankful  as  were  the  Ohio  farmers  for 
their  small  crops  of  the  first  years. 

Each  decade  has  witnessed  the  disappearance  of 
more  and  more  decayed  stumps  of  heathenism,  and 
the  wider  sowing  of  the  Gospel-seed.  Better  and 
better  methods  of  mission  policy  and  activities  have 
been  adopted,  and  we  on  the  ground  fully  expect,  ere 
long,  to  reap  such  unprecedented  spiritual  harvests 
as  the  Western  American  farmers  are  now  reaping  of 
wheat 

But  let  us  take  another  illustration.  We  are  told 
that,  now  and  then,  on  the  wide  prairies  of  the 
western  states  in  America  an  unusually  intense 
prairie-fire  sweeps  across  a  region,  not  only  utterly 
consuming  the  coarse  prairie  grass  and  the  noxious 
weeds  on  the  surface,  but  charring  and  killing  the 
roots  as  well. 

We  are  told  that,  now  and  then,  in  such  charred 
areas  the  succeeding  heavy  rains  are  followed  by  the 
springing  up  of  different  varieties  of  plants  and  even 
forest  trees,  the  seeds  of  which  have  long  been  buried 
and  ungerminating  under  the  thick  strong  sod  of  the 
coarse  prairie  grass  now  consumed  by  the  fire,  and 
thus  a  very  different  vegetation  from  what  formerly 
sprang  up  now  covers  the  landscape. 


Non-Missionary  Testimony  279 

Thus  do  we  missionaries  believe  that  it  will  be 
spiritually  in  India,  in  the  not  very  distant  future. 

We  believe  that  the  longed-for  and  prayed -for  fire 
of  God's  Spirit  will  sweep  over  India,  consuming  the 
coarse  grass  of  heathen  superstitions  and  customs 
and  the  noxious  weeds  of  Hindu  immorality  and  vice 
and  idolatry,  charring  even  their  roots,  and  that  the 
following  rains  of  God's  grace  will  cause  to  spring  up 
not  only  the  tender  grass  from  the  Gospel-seed  long 
since  sown  by  the  missionaries  and  their  agents,  but 
that  there  shall  also  appear  in  abundance  the  forest 
trees  of  God's  planting,  the  comely  cedars  of  a  strong 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  and  all-sufficient 
Saviour  of  the  world  ;  the  palm  trees  of  peace  with 
God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  sturdy 
oaks  of  righteousness  of  life  and  earnest  Christian 
character. 

Then  shall  we  see  the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy : 
"  A  nation  shall  be  born  in  a  day." 

The  sowing  of  the  seed  of  the  kingdom  has  been 
thorough.  Multitudes  of  educated  Hindus  are  con- 
vinced of  the  truth,  and  very  many  are,  as  seen  in  the 
preceding  chapters,  already  secretly  meditating  the 
acceptance  and  open  confession  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
their  personal  Saviour,  though  they  cannot  now  sum- 
mon the  courage  to  come  out,  one  by  one,  against  the 
united  opposition  of  their  Hindu  friends.  But  when 
God's  Holy  Spirit,  for  which  we  so  earnestly  pray, 


280         The  Present  Outlook  in  India 

shall  manifest  His  power  throughout  India,  no  ratio 
of  conversions  in  past  times  will  be  any  guide  to  the 
rapid  ingathering  of  the  future.  So  that  I  felt  myself 
justified  in  saying  as  above  to  my  interrogator,  "  em- 
phatically no :  I  do  not  anticipate  that  the  present 
even  large  ratio  of  increase  will  continue  until  all 
India  is  converted.  We  look  for  still  greater  things 
than  these !" 

But  even  many  friends  of  missions  are  not  inclined 
to  accept  the  optimistic  views  of  enthusiastic  mis- 
sionaries, and  wish  to  know  how  the  matter  is  viewed 
by  those  who,  knowing  India  well,  look  at  it  from  an 
observant  but  independent  and  non-missionary  stand- 
point. 

Let  me  then  give  here,  as  succinctly  as  I  can,  first 
the  publicly- spoken  testimony  of  government  officials 
in  India,  who,  as  part  of  their  duty,  travel  exten- 
sively over  the  provinces  under  them,  and  meet  and 
discuss  with  all  castes  and  classes  of  the  people  their 
conditions  and  disabilities,  with  a  view  to  needed 
legislation  for  their  betterment,  and  so  are  competent 
thoroughly  to  gauge  the  present  state  and  the  pros- 
pects of  the  various  castes  and  religions  in  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  India. 

Some  of  these  testimonies  were  given  several  years 
since,  and  their  authors  would  doubtless  make  them 
still  stronger  at  the  present  day  ;  but  they  are  no  less 
valuable,  as  covering  a  longer  period  and  so  are  more 


Non-Missionary  Testimony  281 

progressive.  Some  of  them  have  been  already  widely 
published,  but  that  does  not  militate  against  their 
being  now  recalled  and  included  in  this  symposium 
of  "  independent  non-missionary  witnesses." 

Lord  Napier,  then  Governor  of  the  Madras  Presi- 
dency, who  had  observantly  travelled  over  most  of  its 
provinces,  said  publicly,  before  laying  down  his  office, 
now  years  since:  "The  progress  of  Christianity  is 
slow,  but  it  is  undeniable." 

Lord  Lawrence,  Governor-General  of  India,  but 
previously  long  time  ruler  of  the  Punjab,  said,  in  a 
public  address  :  "It  was  scarcely  to  be  expected  that 
in  so  brief  a  time  the  idols  of  India  would  be  utterly 
abolished ;  the  wonder  rather  is  that  already  there 
are  so  many  indications  that  Hinduism  is  fast  losing  its 
hold  on  the  affections  of  Ihe people." 

Sir  Donald  McLeod,  later  Governor  of  the  Punjab, 
said  in  an  address:  "The  work  may  be  going  on 
silently,  but  when  the  process  of  undermining  the 
mountain  of  idolatry  has  been  completed,  the  whole 
may  be  expected  to  fall  with  rapidity  and  crumble  in  the 
dust." 

Sir  Herbert  Edwards,  Governor  of  the  North- 
west Provinces,  said:  "I  can  perceive  the  strongest 
indications  of  the  people  being  on  the  march  from 
the  stronghold  of  their  own  ideas.  There  is  a  marked 
activity  of  thought  in  the  educated  classes  of  the 
Hindus  ;  a  sudden  recognition  that  they  are  in  the  wrong, 


282         The  Present  Outlook  in  India 

or  not  quite  right,  and  a  desire  to  go  on  to  neio 
things." 

Sir  Alfred  Lyall,  a  high  government  official,  speak- 
ing of  the  missionary  outlook  in  India,  said  :  "  India 
will  be  carried  swiftly  through  phases  which  have 
occupied  long  stages  in  the  lifetime  of  other  na- 
tions." 

The  more  recent  Director  of  Public  Instruction  in  the 
Madras  Presidency,  in  his  late  official  report  on  "The 
Progress  of  Education  in  the  Madras  Presidency," 
prepared  after  the  last  government  census,  taken  in 
1901,  and  reviewing  its  statistics  of  education  in  the 
presidency,  wrote :  "  If  the  percentage  of  increase  dur- 
ing the  last  twenty  years  be  maintained,  the  native  Chris- 
tian population  will  within  the  next  two  generations  have 
surpassed  the  Brahman  in  education,  in  intelligence,  in 
material  prosperity,  and  in  official  position." 

The  Metropolitan  Bishop  of  India,  Calcutta,  who  in 
his  supervisory  duties  has  travelled  over  all  India, 
from  the  Himalayas  to  Cape  Cornorin,  in  an  address 
in  my  hearing  at  a  missionary  meeting  held,  by  invi- 
tation of  the  Governor,  in  the  Durbar  Hall  of  the 
Government  House  at  Darjeeling,  told  of  the  num- 
bers of  educated  native  gentlemen  he  had  met  in  his 
extended  journeys,  who,  to  his  knowledge,  were  now 
privately  but  diligently  reading  the  Bible  and  en- 
deavouring to  conform  their  lives  to  its  precepts,  while 
still  outwardly  adhering  to  Hinduism,  who  ere  long, 


Non-Missionary  Testimony  283 

when  the  Spirit  of  God  should  mightily  move  among 
them,  "  icould  come  over  as  a  mighty  host  into  the  Chris- 
tian Church." 

He  said  that  he  came  to  India  interested,  indeed,  in 
missions,  but  practically  a  pessimist  as  to  their 
progress  :  that  a  decade  of  close  observation  had  con- 
verted him  into  an  optimist,  for  the  well-marked  indi- 
cations now  were  that  "  India  icould  in  the  not  very  dis- 
tant future  become  an  integral  part  of  the  kingdom  of 
Christ." 

The  Anglican  Bishop  of  Madras,  whose  work  is 
chiefly  for  the  Europeans  scattered  all  over  the  presi- 
dency, but  who  in  his  extended  travels  has  seen  much 
of  the  missionaries'  work  among  the  different  races 
of  natives,  and  had  sometimes  gone  with  them  into 
their  districts  and  villages,  said,  in  a  sermon  preached 
in  the  Madras  Cathedral,  after  twenty-two  years  of 
experience  in  India  : 

"I  have  visited  village  after  village  where  the 
Christians  of  low  caste  origin  are  the  best  edu- 
cated class  in  their  region,  and  I  feel  sure  that 
when  the  whole  two  millions  of  those  low  castes  are 
converted  they  will  be  raised  from  the  bottom  right 
up  to  the  top  of  the  social  scale,  and  form  a  marvel- 
lous witness  to  the  power  of  Christ  such  as  no  age 
has  seen  since  the  days  of  the  apostles.  .  .  .  It 
is  no  vain  dream  that  icithin  this  present  century  India 
win  become  a  Christian  land." 


284         The  Present  Outlook  in  India 

The  following,  taken  from  a  well-known  periodical, 
is  significant : 

11  When  Bishop  Thoburn,  of  the  American  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  went  out  to  India  as  a  young 
missionary,  forty  years  ago,  a  certain  'wise'  Euro- 
pean gentleman  pointed  him  to  a  brick  pillar  and 
said :  i  You  might  as  well  undertake  to  make  a 
Christian  out  of  that  pillar  as  out  of  these  people,' 
and  behold  to-day  not  far  from  3,000,000  native 
Christians  are  in  that  same  peninsula,  and  among 
them  judges,  lawyers,  physicians,  editors,  teachers, 
men  of  business,  etc.,  commanding  the  highest  re- 
spect and  wielding  the  widest  influence." 

Sir  Alexander  MacKenzie,  recent  Chief  Commis- 
sioner of  the  Central  Provinces,  said : 

' '  The  advance  made  in  my  time  in  missions  has  been 
substantial  and  encouraging.  It  is  my  firm  belief  that 
the  day  of  still  better  things  is  very  close  at  hand.11 

Hosts  more  of  such  testimonies  from  independent 
non-missionary  observers,  long  resident  in  India, 
could  be  adduced.  I  content  myself,  however,  with 
only  one  more,  but  that  is  of  special  significance. 

Sir  Charles  Elliot,  when  Governor  of  the  forty 
millions  of  Bengal,  and  after  nearly  four  decades 
of  work  and  observation  in  all  parts  of  India,  said  in 
my  hearing  : 

"  My  long  experience  in  India,  in  the  different  presi- 
dencies and  provinces,  has  taught  me  that  the  British 


Non-Missionary  Testimony  285 

Government  in  India  cannot  possibly  do  the  work 
which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  is  the  only  justifica- 
tion of  our  being  here,  namely  the  civilization,  en- 
lightenment, and  uplifting  of  the  whole  people  of 
India,  without  the  aid  of  the  missionaries.  I  view  the 
missionary  work  as  an  indispensable,  unofficial,  vol- 
untary auxiliary  of  the  Government  in  carrying  out 
in  India  its  highest  aspirations,  the  ennobling  of  the 
whole  Hindu  people. 

"  Extended  observation  has  produced  in  me  the 
profound  conviction  that  nothing  can  lift  these  mil- 
lions of  Hindus  up  to  the  standard  of  our  western 
Christian  nations  in  probity,  morality,  and  nobleness 
of  life,  but  the  Gospel  of  Christ  which  has  lifted  us 
up. 

' '  I  congratulate  you  that  the  last  census  and  the  signs 
of  the  times  all  point  to  a  very  positive  and  somewhat 
rapid  progress  of  the  missionary  work  in  India.  There 
is,  unquestionably,  an  undercurrent  working  among 
the  higher  classes  in  India  towards  Christianity,  in 
spite  of  all  the  open  manifestations  against  it.  We 
may  with  confident  expectation  look  forward  to  the  day 
when  all  India  shall  bow  at  the  feet  of  Christ,  who  alone 
can  uplift,  purify,  and  save." 

These  are  the  words  of  the  experienced  Governor 
of  one  of  the  most  populous  presidencies  in  India, 
spoken  with  the  utmost  publicity,  and  after  nearly 
forty  years  of  travel  and  close  observation  over  all 


286         The  Present  Outlook  in  India 

parts  of  the  Peninsula,  and  where,  consequently,  he 
could  be  answered  if  wrong. 

Sir  Charles  points  to  a  "positive  and  somewhat 
rapid"  progress  of  Christianity  at  the  present  time. 
This  will  not  be  kept  up  and  developed  if  the  Church 
simply  dallies  with  missions  in  India.  But  if  the 
Church  of  God  awakes  to  her  opportunity  and 
springs  to  the  work,  sending  forth  the  needed  rein- 
forcements to  all  its  missions,  and,  with  the  new  Lay- 
men's Movement,  providing  the  necessary  funds,  and, 
above  all,  if  it  utilizes  its  hidden  power  in  that 
unresistible  enginery  of  "  Covenanted  intercessory 
prayer"  which  mounts  to  the  Throne  of  God  and 
then  descends  upon  India.  There  is  no  reason  why 
the  work  in  India  should  not  now  be  speedily  ac- 
complished. 

In  view,  then,  of  this  emphatic  and  recent  testi- 
mony, and  of  those  recorded  before  of  observant  and 
experienced  statesmen  who  thoroughly  know  India 
and  its  people,  are  we  not  fully  warranted  in  disre- 
garding the  croakings  of  the  ephemeral  "globe- 
trotters" who  after  superficially  rushing  through 
India,  inspecting  the  Taj,  but  not  the  missions,  glibly 
write  to  their  journals  that  "  Missions  in  India  are  a 
dismal  failure  ;  "  and  are  we  not  amply  justified  in  be- 
lieving that  "  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  [even  in- 
cluding that  in  India}  shall  speedily  become  the  king- 
doms of  our  Lord  and  of  His  Christ." 


XVIII 

THE  ACTUAL   PROGRESS   OF  THE  CAMPAIGN : 
NON-CHRISTIAN  HINDU  TESTIMONY 


f~     ~^HE  last  census  of  India,  taken  by  the  Gov- 
ernment with  scrupulous  care  in  1901,  re- 

•*•  vealed  the  fact  that  there  were  already  in 
India  very  nearly  three  million  natives  of  India 
who  did  not  hesitate  to  enroll  themselves  as  Chris- 
tians. During  the  six  years  that  have  since  elapsed 
the  accessions  of  Hindus  by  conversion  has  been  very 
large,  so  that  at  the  present  time  no  intelligent 
person  in  India  will  question  the  statement  that 
there  are  now  in  India  well  over  three  millions  of 
native  Christians. 

It  is  true  that  this  includes  the  small  old  Syrian 
Christian  Church,  on  the  "Western  Coast,  in  Travan- 
core,  which  we  do  not  reckon  as  evangelical,  and  the 
very  large  number  of  adherents  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  scattered  all  over  India,  though 
more  largely  in  the  Madras  Presidency.  These 
together  do  doubtless  include  considerably  more  than 
one-half  of  the  total  census  number  of  Christians  at 
present.  But  they  are  not  increasing  rapidly,  while 
the  Protestant  or  Evangelical  Christian  community 
is  increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds. 

287 


288     The  Actual  Progress  of  the  Campaign 

The  former  Eoman  Catholic  Vicar- Apostolic  of 
Madras,  who  was  himself  a  godly  man,  in  a  long 
and  very  friendly  conversation  I  had  with  him  many 
years  ago,  in  response  to  my  question  as  to  how 
many  Christians  he  had  under  his  supervision  in  the 
presidency  of  Madras  said  very  sadly,  "  Our  Year- 
Book  says  six  hundred  thousand.  But  you  know 
just  as  well  as  I  do  that  a  vast  number  of  these  are 
Christians  only  in  name.  Our  early  missionaries,  as 
you  know,  gathered  in  in  crowds  scores  of  thousands 
of  the  fishermen  castes  along  the  coast,  and,  as  we 
now  think,  without  due  instruction  baptized  them 
and  incorporated  them  into  the  Church,  and  they  and 
their  descendants  now  constitute  a  very  considerable 
portion  of  our  Church  in  the  peninsula  of  India. 

"They  loyally  attend  all  festivals  and  special 
services  and  ceremonies  of  our  Church,  and  come 
to  Mass,  and  bring  their  numerous  children  to  us 
for  baptism,  and  by  the  rules  of  the  Church  we  can- 
not refuse  to  baptize  their  children  unless  we  first 
excommunicate  them ;  but,  I  grieve  to  say,  the 
majority  of  them  are  not  at  all  satisfactory  Chris- 
tians, and  we  are  at  our  wits'  end  to  know  what  to 
do  with  them.  The  number  of  missionaries  of  our 
Church  sent  to  India  in  these  days  is  not  at  all  suffi- 
cient to  fairly  instruct  all  our  nominal  members  and 
their  children  in  the  Christian  faith  as  we  receive  it, 
and  we  are  not  much  more  than  holding  our  own.  I 


Clay  images  of  horses  on  which  the  gods  are  supposed  to  ride  at  night 


Casting  down  the  idols  from  their  high  places  and  removing  them  from  their 
shrines  upon  a  village  becoming  Christian 

IDOLATRY  IN  INDIA 


Non-Christian  Hindu  Testimony       289 

grieve  to  admit  it ;  but  you  know  that  this  is  the 
&ct." 

Our  mission,  and  other  earnest  evangelical  mis- 
sions in  the  Madras  Presidency,  have  gathered  in 
thousands  of  these  Roman  Catholic  Christians  among 
our  converts.  We  find  them  making,  usually,  a 
higher  class  of  Christians  in  the  first  generation  than 
the  converts  fresh  from  Hinduism,  for  they  do  have 
many  of  the  essentials  of  Christianity  well  drilled 
into  them  before  coming  to  us,  and  we  have  less  of 
error  and  superstition  and  false  beliefs  to  overcome 
than  in  the  case  of  rank  Hindus. 

While,  however,  the  Roman  Catholics  do  still 
number  more  than  the  Protestant  or  Evangelical 
Christians,  the  proportion  is  constantly  changing  and 
Evangelical  Christianity  is  now  making  such  vast  in- 
roads into  Hinduism,  that  we  fully  believe  it  will  ere 
long  conquer  all  India  for  Christ. 

In  the  present  work  I  speak  only  of  Hinduism 
among  the  religions  of  India,  not  giving  attention  to 
Mohammedanism  or  Buddhism,  for  we  in  the  Madras 
Presidency  come  very  little  into  contact  with  these. 
The  census  tells  us  that  the  Mohammedans  number 
only  about  six  per  cent,  of  the  population  in  this 
presidency,  and  we  of  the  Arcot  Mission  and  most 
of  the  other  evangelical  missions  deem  it  wise  to  give 
ourselves  to  the  ninety-four  per  cent,  of  Hindus, 
rather  than  to  the  six  per  cent,  of  Mohammedans, 


290     The  Actual  Progress  of  the  Campaign 

reaching  the  latter  only  as  we  can  through  the 
vernaculars  of  the  districts  where  we  work,  which 
the  Mohammedans  of  those  districts  usually  know 
almost  as  well  as  their  own  Hindustani.  We  are 
able  thus  to  do  a  little  something  for  the  small  per 
cent,  of  Moslems,  though  not  working  specifically 
for  them.  I  have  thus  myself  baptized  four  Moslems 
who  were  reached  by  our  itinerating  work  for  the 
Telugus,  and  through  the  Telugu  language,  which 
they  knew  about  as  well  as  their  own. 

I  have  not  therefore  spoken  in  this  book  of  work 
among  the  Moslems,  deeming  that  it  would  be  pre- 
sumption on  my  part  to  do  so,  when  there  are  so 
many  able  missionaries  in  North  India  who  are 
specifically  devoted  to  them,  and  who  can  speak 
with  authority  on  that  subject. 

Buddhists  are  found  in  large  numbers  in  the 
native  state  of  Bhutan,  and  in  Sikkim  and  Nepal, 
in  the  Himalayas,  but  practically  there  are  none  in 
India  proper,  that  is  in  India  south  of  the  Himalayas. 
I  do  not  know  of  one  Buddhist  in  the  Madras 
Presidency  ;  hence,  I  do  not  speak  of  them.  This 
book,  therefore,  as  will  have  been  seen,  has  to  do 
only  with  the  Hindus  and  their  salvation  and  the 
problems  that  confront  us  in  working  for  them,  that 
is,  for  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  Hindus, 
leaving  the  fifty  millions  or  thereabouts  of  Moham- 
medans and  the  less  numerous  religions  to  be 


Non-Christian  Hindu  Testimony       291 

treated  of  by  those  who  are  specifically  working  for 
them. 

But  to  return  to  the  census.  This  indicates,  as  de- 
tailed in  the  last  chapter,  that  a  mighty  gain  has 
taken  place  in  each  of  the  last  four  decades  in  the 
number  of  evangelical  native  Christians  aud  points 
to  the  conversion  of  all  India  within  this  century,  if 
the  Church  does  its  duty,  and  if  even  the  present 
ratio  of  increase  is  kept  up. 

The  gathering-in  already  of  more  than  ten  hun- 
dred thousand  Hindus  into  the  evangelical  churches 
of  Christ  in  India  may  be  set  down  then  as  the  first 
item  of  "the  Actual  Progress  of  the  Campaign." 
But  to  one  who  opens  his  eyes  many  other  items  of 
"  actual  progress  "  are  distinctly  visible. 

In  a  campaign  for  conquering  a  kingdom,  to 
have  caused  the  enemy  to  evacuate  forts  and 
strongholds,  even  if  they  be  not  at  once  fully 
occupied  by  the  invading  army,  is  a  real  gain. 
To  have  caused  the  enemy  to  lose  faith  in  their 
long-time  leaders  and  their  officers  ;  to  have  caused 
them  to  form  a  very  high  opinion  of  the  skill, 
ability,  and  prowess  of  the  commander-in-chief 
and  officers  of  the  invading  army,  and  of  the  zeal, 
devotion,  loyalty,  and  intelligence  of  the  rank  and 
file  of  that  army ;  to  have  produced  a  conviction 
in  the  minds  of  the  hosts  of  the  enemy  of  the  honour, 
nobility,  and  goodness  of  the  commander  and  ofli- 


292     The  Actual  Progress  of  the  Campaign 

cers  of  the  invaders— a  conviction  that  if  they, 
the  invaders,  succeeded  in  establishing  their  king- 
dom, they,  the  people  of  the  invaded  kingdom 
would  be  better  off  than  under,  their  old  regime  ; 
while  to  have  brought  thousands  of  the  enemy  to 
be  secretly  ready  to  desert  their  ranks  and  join 
those  of  the  invaders  is  a  further  and  great  gain. 
This,  if  true,  is  a  matter  of  incalculable  import. 

That  all  this  has  been  accomplished,  which  is 
another  item  in  "the  Actual  Progress  of  the 
Campaign,"  will  be  shown  from  the  voluntary 
testimony  of  many  of  our  enrolled  opponents  of  all 
ranks  and  conditions. 

No  apology  is  offered  for  here  reproducing  in 
brief  and  gathering  into  a  symposium  many  bits 
of  testimony  scattered  through  the  previous  chap- 
ters of  this  book,  and  combining  them  with  other 
testimony,  thus  presenting  it  all  as  one  convincing 
whole,  even  as  a  pleader  before  a  jury  recalls  and 
impresses  salient  bits  of  testimony  given  by 
many  witnesses  during  the  previous  days  of  a  pro- 
longed trial. 

Let  us  then  scan  a  few  of  the  admissions  and  un- 
willing testimonies  of  our  opponents  out  of  the 
multitudes  that  might  be  adduced  on  each  of  the 
points  mentioned  above. 

That  the  mass  of  intelligent  Hindus  have  abso- 
lutely lost  faith  in  their  long-time  leaders,  the 


Non-Christian  Hindu  Testimony       293 

Brahman  priesthood,  and  in  Hinduism  itself,  is 
plainly  evident  from  such  admissions  as  the  follow- 
ing, taken  from  orthodox  Hindu  sources : 

The  Hindu,  the  organ  of  orthodox  Hinduism  in 
Madras,  observes : 

"Profoundly  ignorant  as  a  class,  and  infinitely 
selfish,  the  Brahman  priesthood  is  the  mainstay 
of  every  unholy  and  cruel  custom  and  supersti- 
tion, from  the  wretched  dancing-girl  who  insults 
the  deity  by  her  existence,  to  the  pining  child- 
widow,  whose  every  tear,  and  every  hair  of  whose 
head,  shall  stand  up  against  every  one  of  us  who 
tolerate  it,  on  the  day  of  judgment" 

Of  the  endowed  temples  and  shrines,  The 
Hindu  says,  in  another  issue : 

"The  vast  majority  of  these  endowments  are 
corrupt  to  the  core.  They  are  a  festering  mass  of 
crime  and  vice  and  gigantic  swindling."  (See  more 
fully  in  Chapter  X.) 

The  Indian  Nation,  of  Calcutta,  affirms : 

"The  pure  undefiled  Hinduism,  which  Swami 
Vivekananda  preached  in  Chicago,  has  no  exist- 
ence to-day ;  it  has  had  no  existence  for  cen- 
turies." 

The  Reis  and  Rayyet,  also  of  Calcutta,  says  : 

"  Abomination- worship  is  the  chief  ingredient 
of  modern  Hinduism." 

Swami    Vivekananda  himself  said,   in  an  address 


294     The  Actual  Progress  of  the  Campaign 

to  his  co-religionists  in  Madras,  as  reported  in  the 
newspapers  : 

"  We  are  lazy,  we  will  not  work,  we  cannot  com- 
bine, we  are  immensely  selfish,  not  three  of  us  can 
come  together  without  being  jealous  of  each  other ; 
we  have  lost  faith ;  we  are  a  hopelessly  disorgan- 
ized mass ;  our  great  cities  are  the  homes  of  the 
most  rotten  superstitions  in  the  world." 

The  exalted  opinion  of  the  Commander-in-chief 
of  the  Invading  Army  of  Jesus  Christ,  held  by  multi- 
tudes still  in  the  opposing  army,  is  thus  voiced  in 
The  Indian  Social  Reformer : 

"We  concede  that  Jesus  Christ  is  one  of  the 
most  perfect,  the  noblest,  of  men.  We  read  the 
Bible  and  listen  awestruck  to  '  The  Sermon  on 
the  Mount7  and  pass  on  to  the  soul-stirring  sacri- 
fice on  Calvary." 

Another  orthodox  Hindu,  in  an  address  to  his 
fellow  Hindus,  recently  said : 

"How  can  we  be  blind  to  the  greatness,  the 
unrivalled  splendour,  of  Jesus  Christ.  Behind  the 
British  Empire  and  all  the  European  Powers  lies 
the  single  great  personality  of  Jesus  Christ.  He 
lives  in  Europe  and  America  as  King  and  Guide  and 
Teacher.  We,  too,  owe  everything  to  Christianity." 

Keshub  Chunder  Sen  remarked  years  ago  : 

"The  spirit  of  Christianity  has  already  pervaded 
the  whole  atmosphere  of  Indian  society." 


Non-Christian  Hindu  Testimony       295 

That  our  intelligent  opponents  are  convinced  of 
the  superiority  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Christian 
army,  as  compared  with  their  own  forces,  is  voiced 
freely  by  many. 

A  Brahman  subordinate  judge,  in  response  to  his 
superior,  who  had  asked  him,  in  reviewing  a  written 
decision  of  his  in  which  the  testimony  of  a  good 
number  of  Hindus  was  for  the  plaintiff  and  only 
one,  a  Christian,  testified  for  the  defendant :  "Why 
did  you  render  your  decision  for  the  defendant  with 
only  one  witness  in  his  favour  ? ' '  The  Brahman  j  udge 
quietly  replied:  "Because,  sir,  the  witness  for  the 
defendant  was  a  Christian,  and  I  believed  he  told 
the  truth  ;  while  the  witnesses  for  the  plaintiff  were 
Hindus,  and  I  believed  they  were  all  hired  to  per- 
jure themselves." 

A  Brahman  priest  of  an  adjacent  Hindu  temple,  as 
detailed  in  Chapter  III,  voluntarily  told  me  of  his 
admiration  of  the  changed  character  of  the  people  of  a 
village  of  his  former  worshippers,  who  had  come  over 
to  Christianity  only  one  year  before,  and  asked  me  : 

"  What  is  it  that  makes  your  Ye"  da  have  such  an 
uplifting  power  over  the  daily  lives  of  those  who  em- 
brace it  *?  Our  Ve'das  have  no  such  power." 

The  testimony  of  the  Brahman  judge  as  to  the  char- 
acter-building power  of  the  Christians'  Bible,  their 
Manual  of  War,  as  detailed  in  Chapter  IV,  may 
well  be  re-read  here  as  bearing  on  this  point. 


296     The  Actual  Progress  of  the  Campaign 

That  enough  to  form  regiments  have  recently  de- 
serted from  their  ranks  and  enlisted  under  the  banner 
of  the  Cross,  and  that  thousands  more  are  ready  thus 
to  desert,  is  despairingly  admitted  by  the  most  intel- 
ligent and  watchful  of  our  antagonists. 

The  Hindu  Tract  Society,  organized  specifically  to 
antagonize  Christianity,  in  a  Tamil  tract  prepared  to 
arouse  Hindus  to  sharper  opposition,  but  not  designed 
to  be  seen  by  Christians,  says  : 

"How  many  thousands  of  thousands  have  these 
missionaries  turned  to  Christianity  !  On  how  many 
more  have  they  cast  their  nets !  If  we  sleep,  as 
heretofore,  in  a  short  time  they  will  turn  all  to 
Christianity,  and  our  temples  will  be  changed  into 
churches. 

"  Do  you  not  know  that  the  number  of  Christians 
is  increasing,  and  the  number  of  Hindu  religionists 
decreasing,  every  day  !  How  long  will  water  remain 
in  a  reservoir  which  continually  lets  out  but  receives 
none  in?  Let  all  the  people  join  as  one  man  to 
banish  Christianity  from  our  land." 

It  is  not  by  any  means  from  the  "lower  classes" 
alone  that  the  recruits  for  the  Christian  army  in 
India  come,  though  the  "Mass  Movements"  towards 
Christianity  have  as  yet  usually  been  from  the  lower 
classes  ;  but  hundreds  of  individual  cases  from  the 
highest  castes  and  classes  have  come  over,  in  all 
parts  of  India,  of  men  of  position  and  influence,  and 


Non-Christian  Hindu  Testimony       297 

many  of  them  have  already  become  leaders  in 
Immanuel's  advancing  army.  These  are  too  numer- 
ous to  be  mentioned  by  name  here,  but  a  worthy  ex- 
ample is  found  in  Raja  Sir  Harnam  Singh,  K.  C.  S.  I., 
of  the  Punjab,  who  is  now  the  president  of  the 
lately  formed  "National  Missionary  Society  of 
India,"  spoken  of  particularly  in  Chapter  XV; 
a  society  organized  last  year  of  the  leading  Hindu 
Christians,  in  all  the  presidencies  and  of  all  the 
churches,  to  press  the  missionary  work  in  areas  yet 
unoccupied,  with  native  missionaries,  supported  by 
native  money,  managed  by  native  leaders,  in  an 
inter-denominational  effort  to  push  on  the  standard 
of  the  Cross  to  India's  remotest  bounds — a  move- 
ment which  all  evangelical  missionaries  look  upon 
with  the  greatest  joy  and  hope. 

Of  the  mass  of  testimony  from  our  opponents  at 
hand  and  which  might  be  adduced,  voicing  their 
conviction  of  the  inevitable  spread  over  all  India  of 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  propose  here  to  re- 
produce but  one  more  brief  but  pointed  extract : 

Venkayya,  the  learned  Brahman  who  had  read 
much  of  the  Bible  in  three  languages,  and  the  whole 
New  Testament  in  Telugu,  several  times,  but  who 
still  outwardly  adhered  to  Hinduism,  himself  gave 
to  a  packed  audience  of  his  fellow-religionists  in  my 
hearing,  that  unique  address  on  the  power  of  the 
Christian's  Bible  recorded  in  Chapter  HI,  which 


298     The  Actual  Progress  of  the  Campaign 

may  well  be  re-perused  here,  and  which  closed  as 
follows : 

"  Of  one  thing  I  am  convinced  j  do  what  we  will ; 
oppose  it  as  we  may :  It  is  the  Christian's  Bible 
which  will  sooner  or  later  work  the  renovation  or 
regeneration  of  this  land." 

With  these  notable  admissions  of  many  of  our 
most  intelligent  opponents,  and  with  the  explicit 
testimonies  as  to  the  progress  and  prospects  of  the 
missionary  work  in  India,  voluntarily  given  by  many 
independent  and  long  observant  non-missionary  wit- 
nesses in  India,  including  many  governors  and  other 
high  officials,  as  detailed  in  the  previous  chapter, 
we  missionaries  in  the  field  think  that  we  have  the 
right  to  be  profoundly  thankful  for  the  wonderful 
progress  already  made  and  joyously  confident  of  the 
not  very  distant  outcome,  if  the  Church  of  Christ 
but  does  its  duty ;  and  so  viewing  it,  we  challenge 
Christ's  loyal  followers  in  all  Christian  lands  to 
hasten  on  with  the  needed  reinforcements  and 
supplies  to  help  us,  and  with  God's  covenanted  aid 
within  the  present  century  "  the  Kingdom  in  India  " 
shall  really  become  "THE  KINGDOM  OF  OUB  LORD 
JESUS  CHBIST." 


Index 


ALEXANDER,  DR.,  274 
Arcot  Mission,  198,  289 
Aryans,  143,  144,  145 
Association,   South    Indian   Mis- 
sionary, 273 
Asylum  for  insane,  225,  233 

BEEF-EATERS,  103 

Benares,  97 

Bible,   37,   63,   75 ;    its    literary 


Christ,  the  Saviour,  28^.,  34,  74; 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  84, 
86;   the   Light  of  the  World, 
79,  81,  83;  character  of,  115; 
love  of,  35  sq.  ;  power  of,  30  ; 
presentation  of,  101,  108 
Christianity,  13^.,  2(>sq.,  35,  114 
Christians,  number  in  India,  287, 
291  ;    Roman    Catholic,   288  ; 
Protestant,  289 

merit,  38;  its  power,  42,  68^.,    Churches,    8;    organizations    in 
94^.,  223;  adaptability  to        India,    262,    263;    union    of, 
translation,  39,  40;  to  spiritual        255^.;  native  Church  of  India, 
needs,  41;  to  universal  condi-        263  ;  Church  of  Christ  in  India, 
tions,    45^.,'     to    all    intelli-         271 
gences,   49^.  /    testimony   to,    Clough,  Rev.  J.  E.,  241 
73'  75  J   Revision   Committee,    Conferences,    Ecumenical,    255  ; 
1  86,   241;    the    Light   of  the        Indian   Decennial,  251;   Pan- 
World,  88,  90,  92  Presbyterian,    263;    Punjab 

Bishop,    of    Calcutta,    282  ;     of       Church  Missionary  Society,  273 

Madras,  283  Confucianism,  15 

Bombay,  44 
Books,  old  Hindu,  3  ;  «  The  Won-    DARLING,  REV.  T.  Y.,  186 

derful,"  53,  58,  59,  60,  63  Director  of  Public  Instruction,  282 

Brahma,  III,  145 

Brahmans,  priests,  47^.,  102,113,    EDDY,  MR.  G.  S.,  245 
145,   152,  199,  211,  225,  295  ;    Edwards,  Sir  Herbert,  281 
official,  74,  295;  women,  138      Elliot,  Sir  Charles,  284 


Brahmanism,    i8sf.,    28, 

144 
Buddhism,  ibsq.,  28,  290 


Ewing,  Rev.  J.  C.  R.,  267 


FATE,  113 

Folk-Songs  of  India,  24,  25 
CAREY,  WILLIAM,  246,  247,  249 
Cartoon,  Indian,  252^.  GANGES,  43 

Caste,    145,    160,    164^.,    296;    God,  the  Father,  in;  kingdom 

of,  164;  love  of,  35^.;  mys- 
tery of,  in 
Grover,  Translations  by,  24,  25 


K6mati,  164 
Census  of  India,  275^.,  291 
Ceylon,  247^. 


299 


300 


Index 


HARNAM  SINGH,  RAJAH  SIR, 
K.  C.  S.  I.,  297 

Himalayas,  43,  144 

Hindu,  The,  293 

Hindus,  44 ;  number  of,  289,  290 

Hinduism,  iSsg.,  28,  $isq.t  44, 
97,  143,  229,  289 

Holy  Spirit,  in  believer,  99,  100 ; 
in  India,  279 

Horoscopes,  168,  172,  220 

Hospitals,  for  insane,  225,  235  ; 
for  lepers,  225,  235  ;  mission, 
130,  136,  140,  141  ;  govern- 
ment, 133 

Hyderabad,  55,  68,  71,  94; 
Nizam  of,  61,  240 

IDOLATRY,  145 

Independent,  The  New  York,  276 
Indian  Nation,  The,  293 
Indian  Social  Reformer,  The,  294 
Intercessory  missionaries,   losg., 

238;  prayer,  9 
Irving,  Washington,  39 

KANARESE  LANGUAGE,  63,  64; 

poet,  23,  24 

Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  294 
Kingdom  of  Christ,  12 ;  growth 

of,  275^.,  287^. 
Kudami,  202. 

LAW  OF  THE  LORD,  38 

Lawrence,  Lord,  281 

Light  of  the  World,  79^.,  88; 

in  believers,  83  sq.,  100 
Longfellow,  39 
Lyall,  Sir  Alfred,  282 

MACKENZIE,    SIR    ALEXANDER, 

284 

McLaurin,  Rev.  John,  241 
McLeod,  Sir  Donald,  181 
Madanapalle,  50,  96,   191,   195, 

198 

Madras,   City,   179,   214;   Presi- 
dency, 240 
Mantrams,  32 


Manu,  Laws  of,  146,  147,  150 

Marathi,  63,  64 

Martyn,  Henry,  246,  248 

Medical  missions,  1195^.,  135^.; 
condition  of  success,  133;  pecul- 
iar sphere,  125,  126;  testimony 
to  value,  120  sq.,  129, 
missionaries,  123,  128, 

Mills,  Samuel,  246 

Missions,  American  Arcot,  198; 
for  girls,  164 sg.  ;  for  women, 
*43J?M  155,  158;  societies  in 
India,  262 ;  cooperation  in, 
257;  obstacles  to,  170,  \g\sq., 
198  sy.,  225  sq.  ;  progress  of, 
179*2;  240  sq.,  245  sq.,  287  sq.; 
testimony  to  value  of,  275  sq., 
287  sq. 

Mohammedans,  124,  229;  num- 
ber of,  289,  290 

Mount  Sinai,  37,  143 

Miiller,  Max,  1 8 

NAPIER,  LORD,  281 

National    Missionary   Society  of 

India,  245^.,  297 
Native  leaders,  179^.,  245,  249 
Nellore,  205,  21 1,  223 

ONGOLE,  240^. 

PALMANER,  198,  203 
Polytheism,  145 
Puranas,  144 

RAJAHS,  61,  66,  149 
Reis  and  Rayyet,  The,  293 
Religions,    comparative,   13,  73 ; 
Christian,    13;    non-Christian, 
13;   their   beauties,  13.^.,  73, 
89-91 ;  their  defects,  i$sq.,  90, 

97.  "5 
Ryots,  179,  191 

SANSKRIT,  107,  144 
Sanyasi,  126,  141 
Sashtangam,  32 


Index 


301 


Schools,  mission,  for  caste  girls, 
164^.,'  law  of  age,  167,  219 

Scudder,  Rev.  E.  C.,  198,  203, 
217,  223 

Serampore,  246  ;  college,  248 

Sermon  on  Mount,  82 

Shakespeare,  39 

Shastras,  73,  144,  199 

Siva,  in,  145 

Sivavakyar,  Tamil  poet,  25 

Sl6kas,  107 

TAMIL  LANGUAGE,  64 

Telugu  language,  64 

Temple,  Hindu,  46 

Tennyson,  39 

Testimony,  to  mission  work, 
275^.,  287  sq.  ;  government 
census,  275,  287 ;  government 
officers,  280*^. ;  Indian  news- 
papers, 293^.  /  non-Christian, 
287^. 

Thoburn,  Bishop,  284 

Tirupati,  97 

Tract  Society,  Hindu,  296 

Transmigration,  211 


bility  of,  264 ;  in  Australia, 
272;  in  China,  266;  in  India, 
269^.,  272 ;  in  Italy,  267  ;  in 
Japan,  265,  272;  in  Philip- 
pines, 267 

VEDAS,  iSs?.,  44,  73,  107,  145 ; 
Rig  Veda,  \%sq.;  Atharva,  19 
Vellore,  203,  220 
Vemana,  21  sq.,  91,  108,  131 
Viceroy,  43 
Vishnu,  ill,  145 
Vivekananda,  293 
Volunteers,  9,  179 

WARNAGAL,  94 

Whittier,  39 

Women,  Hindu,  145^.  /  place  of, 
146,  148,  150;  marriage  of, 
147 ;  temple,  15 1 ;  improve- 
ment of,  154;  work  among, 
155,  158,  162;  obstacles, 
170  sq. ;  schools  for  girls, 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  INDIAN,  245 


UNION  CHURCH,  255^.,  258;  de-    ZEND  AVESTA,  14 
sirability  of,   256,  262 ;   feasi-    Ziegenbalg,  246 


1C  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FA 


A     000  651  265 


